From Wall Street Journal:
U.S. companies are booking higher profits than ever. But the number crunchers in Washington are puzzling over a phenomenon that has just come into view: Corporate tax receipts as a share of profits are at their lowest level in at least 40 years.
Total corporate federal taxes paid fell to 12.1% of profits earned from activities within the U.S. in fiscal 2011, which ended Sept. 30, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That's the lowest level since at least 1972. And well below the 25.6% companies paid on average from 1987 to 2008.
LINK
And the fat cats keep wondering what all the excitement is about. Occupy this!
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Showing posts with label occupy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label occupy. Show all posts
Friday 3 February 2012
Thursday 1 December 2011
Monday 10 October 2011
Capitalism gone mad!
At the little supermarket across the road, they sometimes feature cases of 24, 30 or 32 bottles of water for $2.49 or $2.99. A good price if one ignores the fact that it is only water, and that you can scoop up the stuff from just about anywhere you see the 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons (326 million trillion gallons) of the stuff (roughly 1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 litres). These particular bottles are 500 ml. (half a litre). For the many unwashed reading this, you can think of it as about half a quart.
That works out to less than .10 a bottle. Let's assume for purposes of this discussion that it is a fair price. Or, if you like we can double that price and go with .20 a bottle. Now, I am a frequent visitor to a certain sports venue, and I happen to know that this same size bottle is sold there for...hold your breath...$3. Outrageous! Surely, as a business, they can purchase in bulk for less than the everyday price the public pays at grocery stores.
Even assuming .20 for their cost, that means that they are realizing a profit of over 93%. If car dealers were jacking up prices as much, that $30,000 car you have your eye on might have a sticker price that reads $500,000.
Now, for the piece de resistance. My sister, recently returned from a pleasant adventure to Niagara Falls, where she visited a popular tourist trap, told me that a bottle of water was going for $5. That's right, folks. That same little bottle that might not be enough to satisfy your thirst on a hot summer's day, that is worth about .20, is sold for $5. Buy for twenty cents...sell for five dollars. Nice gig if you can get it. Or should I say "sham"?
Why do our governments allow this gouging? I'll tell you why. Government is no longer in the business of protecting or serving the people. They have switched sides and now are in cahoots with the elite, powerful and wealthy. Anything it does that remotely appears to benefit ordinary people is nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the true nature of its workings.
The time has come for us to take back our power. And the robber barons wonder what all the fuss is about on Wall Street and anywhere else they operate. Join one of the many protests and demand an end to the ever-growing gap between rich and poor.
Click here to go to most recent posts.
That works out to less than .10 a bottle. Let's assume for purposes of this discussion that it is a fair price. Or, if you like we can double that price and go with .20 a bottle. Now, I am a frequent visitor to a certain sports venue, and I happen to know that this same size bottle is sold there for...hold your breath...$3. Outrageous! Surely, as a business, they can purchase in bulk for less than the everyday price the public pays at grocery stores.
Even assuming .20 for their cost, that means that they are realizing a profit of over 93%. If car dealers were jacking up prices as much, that $30,000 car you have your eye on might have a sticker price that reads $500,000.
Now, for the piece de resistance. My sister, recently returned from a pleasant adventure to Niagara Falls, where she visited a popular tourist trap, told me that a bottle of water was going for $5. That's right, folks. That same little bottle that might not be enough to satisfy your thirst on a hot summer's day, that is worth about .20, is sold for $5. Buy for twenty cents...sell for five dollars. Nice gig if you can get it. Or should I say "sham"?
Why do our governments allow this gouging? I'll tell you why. Government is no longer in the business of protecting or serving the people. They have switched sides and now are in cahoots with the elite, powerful and wealthy. Anything it does that remotely appears to benefit ordinary people is nothing more than a smokescreen to hide the true nature of its workings.
The time has come for us to take back our power. And the robber barons wonder what all the fuss is about on Wall Street and anywhere else they operate. Join one of the many protests and demand an end to the ever-growing gap between rich and poor.
Click here to go to most recent posts.
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