wealthfare dafremen The Top Ten U.S. Corporate Tax Avoiders Sanders compiled a list of some of some of the 10 worst corporate income tax avoiders. 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. 120206 ... dafremen If I sell a house for a profit, I pay taxes only on the portion above the original value of the house. But when assessing income tax debt, the IRS assumes that ALL of your pay is taxable..as though the days of your life, which you traded for that pay, were worth ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Now, supposedly, the Federal government believes that every life is precious. That's why we have mandated seat belt laws and more cops on the street..to protect lives..right? Precious, priceless lives. Which the IRS values at $0.00 as evidenced by the act that your ENTIRE wage is taxed..not the portion remaining after deducting what your time is estimated at being worth. Is it that priceless = valueless? Where's the store that's selling hours and days back to people..for cash? 120626 ... a clever disguise Then housewives would claim a loss? This one is silly. The real travesty is when you sell your home for a loss you get no deduction. Especially in our current crisis. 120626 ... dafremen Yes. Housewives could claim a loss. Agreed. Why should a car be valued at something but the days of a human life NOT be? Besides, its not really a problem if you don't want housewives to claim a loss for wasting their lives away for society's future generations. Just stop claiming to value human life. Stop passing or supporting laws in the name of SAVING human lives as though you value those lives. Hey if the moments of their lives are worth roadkill and you really feel that way..then let's stop with the charade already and let them BECOME roadkill and stop taking away MORE of the days of our lives in the form of taxes and fines and inconveniences..aight? Easy compromise, see? 120627 ... dafremen see also: drunk_driving_is_not_a_crime 120627 ... school zone speeder Vodka + car_keys = fun_for_the_whole_family 120627 ... a clever disguise Penis + Vagina = Human Life Direct wages + Direct materials + allocated overhead + SG&A = Car 120627 ... unhinged ive always thought it was stupid to put quantitative value on human life. that's why im a communist. i don't think science and math are valid measures of humanity *shrugs* 120627 ... dafremen yea..it's unfortunate that folks think price tag = value. 120627 ... dafremen A profitable company gets every penny of its investment in materials, labor and overhead back..plus profit. Another examples of stealthy wealthfare.. 120627 ... unhinged i was in the park that the occupy movement in seattle started in yesterday on my lunch break and chickie handed me a pack of baseball/trading cards of all the biggest corporate theives and their stats on what they've profited, the taxes they haven't paid, and the rebates they've gotten. i thought of you daf 120628 ... a clever disguise My calculation was to the cost to make a car, not the price. Inventory is valued at the lower of cost or market value, that being what one would pay for the car (which one might argue is 'the value' but accounting standards are more conservative, so let's go with that). And yes, businesses in the black recover their costs, plus a profit (the whole point of business). Nothing stealthy about that. It is intrinsic to being a business. I agree that some businesses are not required to pay a fair share of tax, or are given unnecessary incentives, but who is really to blame for that? Do you pay more tax than you're required? But I digress. The idea that all humans are intrinsically valuable is hogwash, no different than cars. Some cars can't drive off a lot, so you pay for the parts that might be good and scrap the rest. To assume no humans match that metaphor is pie in the sky. You want to be a valuable human? Enrich yourself and contribute in a meaningful way. I mean, one that has market value. 120628 ... dafremen "Who is really to blame for that?" That sounds like a line a shitbag might use after she says, "I BELIEVED you when you said you loved me." "Yea? And whose fault is that?" "Caveat Emptor" is what a shitbag says to alleviate his conscience. Should the buyer have bewared? Or should business people have resisted the urge to chew off the very hand that feeds them over a buck and a Lexus? Those who profit from business get their living 100% off the backs of those who PRODUCE and sell their labor to society. Some work, some don't. That's been the big bitch since the beginning. When they were telling us how rotten Communism was they'd say, "But some people won't work and get an equal share of the wealth anyway." Yea? Well in some OTHER systems (namely capitalism) Some folks won't work and get an AGGRESSIVELY UNFAIR share of the wealth. In fact their parasitism is KILLING THE HOST..namely society. Why isn't the working man's hour given intrinsic value? And how much would that intrinsic value be? Minimum wage? So we value an hour of human life at the price of a premium Carl's Jr. burger? I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm saying let's stop talking rhetoric about valuing human life and put up or shut up with a figure..which is ZERO according to the government. And they still haven;t pointed out the hours and days store where we can buy them back..at ANY price. "Society" shares roots with the word "social" unfortunately, it also shares that root with the word "sociopath." These days an MBA or a Law degree is practically a certificate of sociopathic mastery. 120630 ... i can dream FairTax 120630 ... iCanSeeThruCuteBuzzwords RegressiveTax 120701 ... dafremen Nothing regressive about someone who produces nothing but sucks up the wealth PRODUCING a bit more of the wealth. In Germany, drivers are ticketed according to their net worth. Unfortunately this means knowiong everyone's private financial information. See what being a selfish asshole is about to get us into? Want to stop a regressive tax? Start ponying up enough to get Americans off of the street. No it is not their responsibility. Big business and its psychologists have already admitted to turning the American public into a bunch of dependent babies, because they are easier to sway, spend more and have less pesky impulses to stand between business and profits. (Shareholders are business people too. It is their insistence on returns [ie. money for nothing] that drives ruthless corporate decision making.) It's time to take care of the babies, assholes. Do it for the children. The 6.3 billion mewling infants who used to be mostly self-reliant, creative, happy, PRODUCTIVE individuals before your greed turned them into selfish, ignorant, lazy, convenience-addicted, needy juveniles for life. So here are all of these so-called clever people, taking advantage to get money for nothing so they can sit on their asses more, or just have more piles of shit they don't need and can't use..a hedge against their general fear of the world they have FUCKED in little or big ways to get what they have, (or that is simply filled with scary people whose behavior is the result of greed gone awry.) Nice. Clever. These mighty, clever people who are too stupid to pony up their share to fix the mess WE got our stupid asses into. Guess who owes more in the "Greed and the pursuit of power and wealth fucked up our world" game? The greedy bastard with the most wealth and power. Duh. See also: the_most_brilliant_species_on_the_planet you_may_be_human_garbage_if 120701 ... dafremen We pour our time and energy into making money then spend the money surrounding ourselves with the things and people that make us happy. Why not cut out the middle man..giving our time and energy to the people that make us happy? Or into learning to produce and then producing the things that make us happy? Maybe because middle man money makes the greedy man's extra fat cut possible. Makes you wonder who the welfare cases REALLY are.. There is a human myth that takes many forms across the planet; within and without various cultures. It involves human shaped creatures that feed off of human energy. The form of that energy differs with the creature. Some are said to feed on souls, others drink blood, some sap you of strength, and some turn you to stone but die when they see themselves in the mirror. And those that feed on our souls are the dishonest, indifferent among the clergy. And they are fed. And those that turn you to stone keep you trapped in one spot repeating the same patterns over and over..motionless in effect. The business man who sees employees as meat robots is also fed. And the blood drinkers are those that take what life and love we have and give nothing in return; the cold side of a social system that either drains us of our love of life..or turns us into drainers of life ourselves if we give in. And this wide-mouthed beast also feeds. And those that sap us of our strength are those fellow victims that try to stave off their own inner fear of being empty by sipping on one's self esteem. These compare the strength of another's heartbeat to theirs and feed off of whatever difference they can contrive. It makes you wonder who the welfare cases really are.. And though we often choose to spend our lives on those who use us, perhaps we wouldn't if we knew their agenda and the insatiability of their hunger. Perhaps we wouldn't if we knew we had a choice. Ol' money makes everything seem removed from lives and agendas and energy and time and parasites. With money on the scene..vampires seem like super stars and everyone wants a piece of the action (read: irreplaceable days of life sacrificed by human beings.) 130413 ... dafremen For as long as businessmen keep externalizing the costs of doing business, we'll need to tax the crap out of them. It's not about redistribution of wealth. It';s about the ONLY people that are actually TAKING from society, paying their fair share to keep society and its related infrastructures going. Guys like you will continue to talk about your RIGHTS when it comes to money, but RARELY about your responsibilities when it comes to money. WHO pays to keep those roads going so Mr. Business Tycoon can keep shipping his products? Who pays to keep his employees' children fed when he refuses or is unable to provide a living wage? Who keeps his livestock (ie. factory workers) alive and reasonably healthy when the bottom line watching bean counters loophole health benefits out of existence? And when I REALLY think about it I wonder if all of this support which society provides the business world is really an INVESTMENT..or are businessmen just a haughty bunch of self-centered welfare cases themselves? I mean, what does a profitable company ACTUALLY give to society? Jobs? What does that mean to society since a profitable business gets all of its labor dollars back? That's not adding anything. In fact, basic economic principles seem to indicate that a profitable business amounts to a DRAIN on the economy. If anything, society is providing business with the labor resources it ABSOLUTELY could not function without. WE make YOUR dreams possible, oh clueless ones. You owe US for allowing you to PROVIDE jobs. Not the other way around Mr. I've-Got-The-Money-I'll-Make-The-Rules-Whether-They-Make-Sense-Or-Not. At some point, we all have to realize..including business people, that business is a DRAIN on our economy anymore. The ONLY way that drain is justified is if the profitable business provides a SOCIAL BENEFIT to the public which outweighs its ECONOMIC DRAIN on the public's economy. Nobody's taking YOUR money Mr. Cheapskate selfish moneygrubber guy. That's OUR money, OWED money that we want, you greedy beggars. We're charging you for services rendered that you thought you'd gotten over on. You didn't. All along, we were billing you for those roads and people and natural resources you burn through to make your profits. And now you greedy, selfish people are trying to WORM your way out of your debt to society. Nice try deadbeats. 140419 ... dafremen This last week, I've been particularly hard on greedy business people. Now I know full well that people don't normally do things because they are bad people. Except for the rare exception, I don't really believe in bad people; just poorly instructed children and mistaken adults. I happen to be a bit of both myself. But there is a very important point to be made by vilifying those who have made the pursuit of money their primary business goal. And that point is this: When you are a member of a society, it is your value to that society which will ultimately determine your survival, not the size of your bank account. If you create big piles of things at a cost to society, it won't go unnoticed forever and you will be corrected or eradicated, in an act of self preservation, by the very social forces that move all things: fashion, sports, migration, employment, economics, revolution. But this is only just beginning to come to pass, Ebenezer. There is still time to change. And it starts with a very simple change of perspective. When you say something as simple as: "businesses should pay their workers a living wage", almost immediately you hear something to the effect of: "The purpose of a business is to make money, if you can't afford it, you can't afford it." And see, that's the first place a shift in thinking needs to occur. The purpose of a business is NOT to make money. The purpose of a business is to produce goods or services which serve some need or want in society. Secondarily, in order for this service to be of use, it should do no harm to society which negates any benefit produced and never any physical or mental harm. And THIRDLY, in a perfect world, the greater the benefit provided by the business, the greater the reward reaped in the form of profits. That's the "purpose of a business to make money" part. Notice how it's third. That's because the first thing a person should ask themselves before taking up an entrepreneurial pursuit is whether or not society even needs or wants what is being proposed. Even more important than that, does it produce a benefit that greatly outweighs its harm? Any death or illness potential is an immediate disqualifier. Will it harm the very ecosystem that sustains us in space? That's not fluffy treehugger sh--. That's a very real, very logical way of seeing this planet. Because that's what it IS: the bubble that sustains us in a vacuum. All of these things are more important than the money motive. And that's probably why it's so much easier to put the money motive first..because not everybody has the perspective to think socially..beyond the boundaries of their own personal lives. And doing the right thing takes a bit of thinking outside our own personal space. I'm not sure if we'll ever get it completely right. But it has to start HERE..in our way of serving each others needs and wants. Because we are messing up our kids in the name of manipulating each other for a buck and it has to stop. Let me close this up by first, apologizing to anyone who was offended by any of my rants. There was no need to be. Sometimes we catch a glimpse of a mirror and see something we don't like. It's never the best policy to punch the mirror. That goes for business practices too..we didn't get here overnight. We let this happen. WE let sh-- get this bad. Sorry it's ugly. And now, I want you to imagine a world in which maybe we've figured out how to keep this thing called capitalism functioning. In this world, we've finally agreed that WHATEVER system we use must serve the people of our society first and foremost, ensuring their common survival and prosperity. This need not be an equal prosperity, but must be at the least..a basic, dignified existence. If that cuts into profits..so be it. In this future world, we are a GOAL oriented society. And our goal is to take care of our members, provide them avenues for pursuing happiness and expand the common understanding of ourselves and the universe we live in. In this future time, our laws have made greedy business practices absolutely illegal and punishable by revocation of corporate charters at the federal level, confiscation of corporate holdings as well as criminal trials for all executives involved. Those multinational conglomerates that choose to continue down the path of greed will leave running. At first belts will need to be tightened and commodities will be scarce. But something interesting happens right as that begins to happen: First the people who really didn't care what community they live in or do business in..move on. They have nothing to keep them from running from the inconvenience. Then, some who have a transient attachment to the community move. At the end, the majority of the people who live in a community aren't those who just want to take something for themselves from that community, but those who actually care about that community and its people. And interestingly enough such people, when they band together in large enough numbers, are usually very capable of keeping their communities safe, clean and thriving. And those businesses that stay? Are eventually rewarded with loyalty and less competition from the sorts of businesses that practice undercutting and price wars. Eventually a vacuum is created in other industries. A vacuum waiting to be filled by a business that wants to do business ethically and in a socially responsible manner. And the profits are always greater in a competitive vacuum than where it's dog eat dog. I think we'll find that such a world eventually perpetuates it's own philosophies throughout its people and their cultures, just as greed and selfishness have been doing forever. When we lift up the greedy, we cause the masses to follow, and soon their children, and then it's normal. The same can be done with social responsibility and ethical business. We can put people first AND see business thrive. If we have the balls to start now..before the clock strikes midnight, Christmas is over and we end up living our nightmares. Humbug indeed. 140426 ... dafremen see also: a_squirrels_law you_made_your_bed 140426 ... dafremen Communism and inheritance have this in common: They both support helpless infants in adult bodies. 190203 what's it to you? who go blather from