OECD wants countries to tax rich more and did a study that dispels the Trickle Down theory
US has fourth largest inequity level after Chile & Mexico & Turkey in OECD
Top 1% has more than doubled income from 1980-2011
Top 1% make an average after tax income of $1.2M
Poorest 20% make average of $17K after taxes
Benefits represent 6% of households in US while OECD it’s 16%
Top marginal rates of personal income tax: Australia 45%, Canada 29%, France 40%, Germany 45%, Italy 43%, Japan 40%, UK 50%, US 35% (not effective tax rates)
In past two fiscal years the federal government gave more than $1.5B in funds to just Catholic organizations
Russell Church - rats found to have empathy, another experiment showed rats freeing friends rather than partaking in food (and sometimes sharing food with freed rat)
Six Walton family members on Forbes 400 list have a networth equal to the bottom 30% of all Americans
Total US household wealth is $50T - $70T range
Waltons have .13% of all US wealth
In 2009 roughly 1/4 Americans (24.8%) had zero or negative net worth, up from 18.6% in 2007
In 2009 37.1% of households had networth of less than $12K (30% in 2007)
Sony & Warner Bros & Universal & Walt Disney & Paramount & 20th Century Fox control 95% of US film industry
Sony & Time Warner & GE & Walt Disney & Viacom & News Corp have 90% of all US media
In 2007 the average American household borrowed 127% of its income, now 112%
Earnings for companies expected to raise 13.6% compared to a year ago
Older workers are taking teenager jobs so teens are out of work
Citigroup eliminated 5,000 jobs and only paid 16.9% taxes
Only 4% of Americans think corporations are paying their fair share
Corporate taxes in the US are among the lowest of developed countries
Separation of campaign and state, abusive campaign regulation = no regulation
In 1980 500,000 people were incarcerated, now 2.3M
No jobs bill in this Congress, they haven’t doe anything but attack Planned Parenthood
88% of income of the economy to profit, 1% goes to wages
If Apple made everything here they’d still make 50% profit
500K less government jobs since Obama took office
Total revenue as a share of GDP has been under 15% for 3 straight years
In 1950 corporate tax counted for 5% of revenue of GDP, now 1.2%
We spend over $1T in loopholes, subsidies, breaks in tax codes a year
Defense spending 3.1% of US economy in 2001, 4.8% in 2010
For 14th year in a row the Pentagon asked for an increase in funds
Bush was the first president to cut taxes during war time
Reagan more than equaled the entire debt burden produced by previous 200 years
Michele Bachmann has a farm and takes farm subsidies
Legalizing pot would give us a profit of $24B over 10 years
Pass McCain/Kennedy 2007 act would give us a profit of $48B
First time in 60 years the net immigration is 0
Financial service industry spent more than $95M last year in campaigns
If every American gave up meat and cheese for one day a week it would be the equivalent of saving 91B driving miles a year
Between 2005-2009 the share of wealth of top 10% rose from 49% to 56%
Median worth of white family is 20 times that of Black and 18 times that of Hispanic
Total cost of new policies: Bush = $5.07T, Obama = $1.44T
Exxon profit up 41% or $10.68B even with recent oil spill
2025 fuel efficiency at 54.5MPG thanks to Obama
UN Food & Agriculture (FAO) lifestock farming generates 18% of greenhouse gas emissions while all transportation accounts for 13%
Reasons why meat generates greenhouse gasses: deforestation, manure (296 times more harmful than CO2), methane gas from cows (200L a day per cow)
Average person eats 176 pounds of meat a year
Monthly Questions:
People do realize that companies are sitting on their money rather than hiring? If we were to lower taxes right now with the debt crisis, do people really think companies would hire?
