9.28.2004
GeorgeWBuy Link Fiesta
Several good links from GeorgeWBuy, an excellent site committed to showing how George W. Bush's corporate sponsors are attempting to buy this election. First of all, here's an excellent article covering the "Corruption Perception Index," which is designed to show who wins/who loses under Bush's tax code:
* Pretax profits of 275 large, profitable Fortune 500 companies between 2001 and 2003: $1.1 trillion
* Actual amount of profits they reported to the IRS, according to a new study by Citizens for Tax Justice: $557 billion
* Federal tax rate companies are supposed to pay on their profits: 35% [4]
* Actual effective tax rate paid by these 275 profitable companies, in 2003: 17.2%
* Number of these companies that actually paid no federal tax in one or more of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003: 82
... * Campaign contributions made by these eleven companies to federal candidates and parties, 1989-present: more than $135.7 million [10]
* Return on investment for their 2001-2003 tax breaks: 38,000%
* Number one receipient of their contributions: President George W. Bush [11]
* Amount he has received from their PACs, employees and their family members for his 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns: $1.8 million [12]
* Amount of extra tax each taxpayer paid to give those eleven companies their subsidies: $397.55 [13]
Consider now that is the average that each taxpayer has paid. Understand that those of us who receive less tax breaks (read: middle and lower tax brackets) paid a substantial chunk but more likely the middle, as the lowers don't have the money to pay that sort of tax out of pocket. I don't know about you, but $400 a year sounds like a lot to me. $400 is a cheap vacation. $400 is a ton of music. $400 is money we could use, that the corporations wouldn't be hurting without. While, we're caught up in the beautiful struggle, they're making record profits.
Second link is a terribly important article covering regulations or rollbacks that have been postponed until after the election:
LAND DEVELOPMENT A proposal to scuttle a rule from the Clinton administration that put nearly 60 million acres of national forest largely off limits to logging, mining or other development.
The Bush administration recently extended until Nov. 14 the comment period for the proposal, which had been scheduled to end this month. Completion of a second proposal, to make it easier to develop forests without considering the environmental impact, has also been delayed.
FOOD SAFETY A proposal by the Food and Drug Administration, after a case of mad cow disease was reported in Washington State, to tighten rules governing the content of animal feed.
Part of the proposal was delayed after heavy lobbying from the beef and cattle feed industries. A few weeks after the administration announced in July that it would slow the regulatory process, the beef association broke its nonpartisan tradition by issuing an endorsement for the re-election of President Bush.
Also included is legislation that currently puts limits on how large media conglomerates can become(the Bushies of course want Fox News to own everything). If Bush somehow pulls this out, I fear for what will happen to our country in the coming months.
* Pretax profits of 275 large, profitable Fortune 500 companies between 2001 and 2003: $1.1 trillion
* Actual amount of profits they reported to the IRS, according to a new study by Citizens for Tax Justice: $557 billion
* Federal tax rate companies are supposed to pay on their profits: 35% [4]
* Actual effective tax rate paid by these 275 profitable companies, in 2003: 17.2%
* Number of these companies that actually paid no federal tax in one or more of the years 2001, 2002 and 2003: 82
... * Campaign contributions made by these eleven companies to federal candidates and parties, 1989-present: more than $135.7 million [10]
* Return on investment for their 2001-2003 tax breaks: 38,000%
* Number one receipient of their contributions: President George W. Bush [11]
* Amount he has received from their PACs, employees and their family members for his 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns: $1.8 million [12]
* Amount of extra tax each taxpayer paid to give those eleven companies their subsidies: $397.55 [13]
Consider now that is the average that each taxpayer has paid. Understand that those of us who receive less tax breaks (read: middle and lower tax brackets) paid a substantial chunk but more likely the middle, as the lowers don't have the money to pay that sort of tax out of pocket. I don't know about you, but $400 a year sounds like a lot to me. $400 is a cheap vacation. $400 is a ton of music. $400 is money we could use, that the corporations wouldn't be hurting without. While, we're caught up in the beautiful struggle, they're making record profits.
Second link is a terribly important article covering regulations or rollbacks that have been postponed until after the election:
LAND DEVELOPMENT A proposal to scuttle a rule from the Clinton administration that put nearly 60 million acres of national forest largely off limits to logging, mining or other development.
The Bush administration recently extended until Nov. 14 the comment period for the proposal, which had been scheduled to end this month. Completion of a second proposal, to make it easier to develop forests without considering the environmental impact, has also been delayed.
FOOD SAFETY A proposal by the Food and Drug Administration, after a case of mad cow disease was reported in Washington State, to tighten rules governing the content of animal feed.
Part of the proposal was delayed after heavy lobbying from the beef and cattle feed industries. A few weeks after the administration announced in July that it would slow the regulatory process, the beef association broke its nonpartisan tradition by issuing an endorsement for the re-election of President Bush.
Also included is legislation that currently puts limits on how large media conglomerates can become(the Bushies of course want Fox News to own everything). If Bush somehow pulls this out, I fear for what will happen to our country in the coming months.
