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03 Nov 2011 21:57

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Biz: Study: Many corporations pay low tax rates; some pay none

  • 35% the corporate tax rate set by the U.S. government
  • 18.5% the average “real” tax rate paid by 280 Fortune 500 companies source
  • » And some companies don’t even pay: Two notably large companies that don’t pay any taxes … and in fact owe less than nothing somehow? General Electric and Pepco. (On a side note: DC residents looooooove Pepco, because the power goes out all the time around here.) Both companies defend their businesses practices.

01 Nov 2011 22:34

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Politics: Democrats seek to overturn Citizens United via constitutional amendment

  • Fighting back against “Citizens United:” Senate Democrats, led by Tom Udall, have introduced a constitutional amendment meant to blunt the effects of Citizen’s United, the Supreme Court decision that paved the way for unlimited, undisclosed campaign contributions by corporations. The amendment wouldn’t directly overturn CU, but rather give congresses–both federal and state–the authority to regulate campaign contributions and expenditures. Like most proposed constitutional amendments, it probably won’t get anywhere close to ratification, but hey, it rallies the base, right? source

08 Feb 2011 14:30

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Politics: Barack Obama makes his tax pitch to the business community

  • Another barrier government can remove is a burdensome corporate tax code with one of the highest rates in the world.
  • President Barack Obama • Speaking to the Chamber of Commerce, the President reiterated his State Of The Union pledge to cut the corporate tax rate. This plan writ large may not cause too much angst to his liberal supporters, provided that the reciprocal promise he made, eliminating loopholes in said corporate tax code, also sees some motion. Chamber of Commerce head Thomas Donahue called it  “a good change in tone.” source

21 Jan 2010 10:28

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U.S.: Great. The Supreme Court turns off campaign funding limits

  • 5-4 douches beat cool people once again source

20 Oct 2009 21:57

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Politics: NYT: Maybe it’s time we flip the rich-get-richer culture on its head

  • If some company is too big to fail, then it’s too big to exist. Break it up.
  • New York Times op-ed columnist Bob Herbert • In an article titled “Safety Nets for the Rich,” about the phenomenon of companies “too big to fail.” Herbert argues that much money is being given to the rich instead of the poor, and it’s causing crazy situations like the financial bailout. Now that the economy’s starting to even out, perhaps it’s time to consider working on financial industry regulation. • source

19 Apr 2009 21:23

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Biz: The Fortune 500 is worth a lot less than they were before

  • 85% decline in the Fortune 500’s profits from 2007 to 2008 source

19 Apr 2009 21:10

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Biz: The Fortune 500’s top five and how they got to the top

  • one ExxonMobil: Making money off of the world’s addiction to oil, their massive profits were up 19% in 2008.
  • two Wal-Mart: Making money off of the world’s addiction to cheap crap, their profits were up 7% in 2008.
  • three Chevron: People like putting gas in their cars, and indirectly, money in Chevron’s cash-lined pockets.
  • four ConocoPhillips: see all the stuff we just said about ExxonMobil and Chevron, then apply it here.
  • five General Electric: Nobody watches NBC, so we’ll assume it’s because of all the other stuff they make. source