That is the true shame. Small Businesses which employ 75% of Americans are the ones who suffer from onerous taxes. Unfortunately they do not have the money to purchase access to federal level politicians. So, people like Otellini, who can afford to purchase politicians continue to benefit from their relatively small purchases (its surprisingly cheap to buy a senator) which really are less than a minor blip in their corporate balance sheets and get huge breaks, discounts, hide their income etc and end up (as was mentioned before) actually getting HUGE tax refunds sometimes in the BILLIONS from the US government (Read... US.. the Taxpayers who are not making billions).
For all these tiny government tea-party pukes etc who decry wealth transfer systems and socialism etc, surprisingly few are aware that it exists and the money they think they are giving to the poor through their taxes goes in a much larger amount to corporations who are not turning around and providing them any services.
Add to this, as I mentioned before, what is a wholesale abuse of our commons, where we give up mineral rights for pennies on the dollar, give free and unfettered access to our infrastructure, our laws, etc and provide corporations with everything they need to succeed at NO COST TO THEM (educated workforce, etc...) they can pay their fair share.
Otellini's argument is tired and old and unfortunately bought into by a culture of Americans who have been taught to buy this 'party line' and follow it religiously without even bothering to look at the real facts or figures. They do this because in many cases they have been convinced that they too have a chance to hit the lottery and get a CEO job and they do not realise that the odds of winning the lottery are often better then ever winning 'Tournament Theory'.
Instead they pump their fists in the air, shouting 'America F*&^ Yeah' and believing in the ultimate superiority of the American Corporate Model and the mistaken belief that we're a 'Capitalist Nation' that will always be #1.
Thanks to Corporations and the politicians they purchase, we're no longer #1 at pretty much anything that matters. Sure, we have a high income per capita, but that number is extremely deceptive as many do not even understand the difference between a median and a mean.
And our Corporate controlled media isn't going to do anything at all to help Americans see or understand the injustices being done to them, by themselves, by continuing to support an economic system that it BUILT to reduce their ability to compete and find themselves wealthy.
What made America great was its social mobility. As a grand experiment we had, at one time, the most vibrant and mobile middle class, where unlike any other nation people were able to better their economic status through hard work.
This has been systematically eroded since 1980. Social mobility only works in one direction now. And the middle classes, the actual engines of the great prosperity we once experienced, are the ones suffering.
Bear in mind, if you will, this includes the Small Businesses that employ 75% of all Americans. These are middle class people who are being pushed out of the markets and social mobility and it is NOT being done by the Government... except insomuch as the Government is acting as an arm of the corporate. For example, the family doctor/general practitioner is a small businessperson, but they are negatively impacted by health care legislation that is BOUGHT buy the corporations to ensure that the HMO, Insurance Industry, etc is best served. In fact, much of our recent health care legislation was actually WRITTEN by these entities and fed to our congress to pass. Both under Obama (Recent Health Care Reform... supported by the industries because it gives them 40 million new clients and the US taxpayer has to pay for it) and Bush (Prescription Drug Plan which has turned into a huge wealth transfer program to the pharma industry) we have seen our government accede to the demands of corporations and put into place laws that benefit them at the expense of the citizen.
Get this.. YOU are giving up your tax dollars to NON CITIZENS. This seems to really rile up the tea party fools when the non citizens might be illegals with anchor babies, but they seem completely blind to the fact when it is a mega-corp who is the non citizen. And I promise you, the Mexican who comes here looking for opportunity is NOT as dangerous to the US as the Mega-Corp that sees a profit opportunity.
And it all comes down to money.
When Bill Clinton ran against Bob Dole, the cost of each campaign was $4,000,000. When George Bush ran against Al Gore, this figure had jumped to $40,000,000. When John Kerry ran against George Bush each campaign had to muster over $200,000,000... in our most recent election between Obama and McCain the candidates campaigns cost over $400,000,000.
This money, mind you, is JUST the direct money in the campaigns themselves. I think you all can look at the rate of inflation and see this amount does not track the same curve. You can also see that this money isn't coming from the incomes of the private citizens.
Looking at other federal level campaign cots, and an eternal election cycle, you can see where the money is coming from and who our government listens to.
It is not a government By, For and Of the people any more. Heck, our courts even rules that Corporations (Who are not citizens, are proven to be not loyal at all to America or her laws that birthed them) have the right of free speech and can spend as much as they want in political campaigns.
Do you think the average person, even when massed as a whole, can afford the political capital it takes to match the financial capital the corporation can put forth without even denting its bottom line?
I said it before I say it again. F%*& Carly and Otellini. They have proven themselves more destructive to the economy and the American way of life then they like to present themselves. They are not defenders of opportunity and truth, justice and the American Way. They are instead sociopaths, running companies who have been granted too many of the appearances and privileges of 'Human' citizenship in a nation. Corporations are not Citizens.
If you or I commit treason we can be put to death. A corporation gives the Chinese the technology to destroy our economy and way of life they are awarded tax breaks and more preferential treatment because they buy some more legislation.
If you or I put together a device that will kill, we will be prosecuted and imprisoned. If a corporation does it, they receive very little punishment at all and can, quite often, build the cost of litigation into the product and still make a hefty profit and never once face life in prison or disincorporation.
This is NOT what our forefathers wanted. It is NOT what Adam Smith envisioned. In fact our laws were some of the most corporate unfriendly in our early history because of the knowledge our forefathers had of the harm a too powerful corporate body could do. Adam Smith wrote of the dangers of a too strong corporate body. And yet our masses, who are interested in reading Adam Smith, or our foundational documents, are all to willing to quote their writers and claim that this is good for everyone.
Wake up. Forget what your business school is teaching you because inevitably it is wrong. It is more likely, the bought and paid for crap they want you to learn and they gave generously to the university to be certain you were taught. How you can become part of a machine that takes and gives you the illusion that you have a chance to be a part of the taking.
Well you are a part of the taking, but you are not a beneficiary.
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