Tag: middle class

  • Ten numbers the rich would like fudged

    The numbers below reveal the deadening effects of inequality in the United States, and confirm that tax avoidance, rather than a lack of middle-class initiative, is the cause.

    1. Only THREE PERCENT of the very rich are entrepreneurs.

    According to both Marketwatch and economist Edward Wolff, over 90 percent of the assets owned by millionaires are held in a combination of low-risk investments (bonds and cash), personal business accounts, the stock market, and real estate. Only 3.6 percent of taxpayers in the top .1% were classified as entrepreneurs based on 2004 tax returns. A 2009 Kauffman Foundation study found that the great majority of entrepreneurs come from middle-class backgrounds, with less than 1 percent of all entrepreneurs coming from very rich or very poor backgrounds.

    2. Only FOUR OUT OF 150 countries have more wealth inequality than us.

    In a world listing compiled by a reputable research team (which nevertheless prompted double-checking), the U.S. has greater wealth inequality than every measured country in the world except for Namibia, Zimbabwe, Denmark, and Switzerland.

    3. An amount equal to ONE-HALF the GDP is held untaxed overseas by rich Americans.

    The Tax Justice Network estimated that between $21 and $32 trillion is hidden offshore, untaxed. With Americans making up 40% of the world’s Ultra High Net Worth Individuals, that’s $8 to $12 trillion in U.S. money stashed in far-off hiding places.

    Based on a historical stock market return of 6%, up to $750 billion of income is lost to the U.S. every year, resulting in a tax loss of about $260 billion.

    4. Corporations stopped paying HALF OF THEIR TAXES after the recession.

    After paying an average of 22.5% from 1987 to 2008, corporations have paid an annual rate of 10% since. This represents a sudden $250 billion annual loss in taxes.

    U.S. corporations have shown a pattern of tax reluctance for more than 50 years, despite building their businesses with American research and infrastructure. They’ve passed the responsibility on to their workers. For every dollar of workers’ payroll tax paid in the
    1950s, corporations paid three dollars. Now it’s 22 cents.

    5. Just TEN Americans made a total of FIFTY BILLION DOLLARS in one year.

    That’s enough to pay the salaries of over a million nurses or teachers or emergency responders.

    That’s enough, according to 2008 estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN’s World Food Program, to feed the 870 million people in the world who are lacking sufficient food.

    For the free-market advocates who say “they’ve earned it”: Point #1 above makes it clear how the wealthy make their money.

    6. Tax deductions for the rich could pay off 100 PERCENT of the deficit.

    Another stat that required a double-check. Based on research by the Tax Policy Center, tax deferrals and deductions and other forms of tax expenditures (tax subsidies from special deductions, exemptions, exclusions, credits, capital gains, and loopholes), which largely benefit the rich, are worth about 7.4% of the GDP, or about $1.1 trillion.

    Other sources have estimated that about two-thirds of the annual $850 billion in tax expenditures goes to the top quintile of taxpayers.

    7. The average single black or Hispanic woman has about $100 IN NET WORTH.

    The Insight Center for Community Economic Development reported that median wealth for black and Hispanic women is a little over $100. That’s much less than one percent of the median wealth for single white women ($41,500).

    Other studies confirm the racially-charged economic inequality in our country. For every dollar of NON-HOME wealth owned by white families, people of color have only one cent.

    8. Elderly and disabled food stamp recipients get $4.30 A DAY FOR FOOD.

    Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has dropped significantly over the past 15 years, serving only about a quarter of the families in poverty, and paying less than $400 per month for a family of three for housing and other necessities. Ninety percent of the available benefits go to the elderly, the disabled, or working households.

    Food stamp recipients get $4.30 a day.

    9. Young adults have lost TWO-THIRDS OF THEIR NET WORTH since 1984.

    21- to 35-year-olds: Your median net worth has dropped 68% since 1984. It’s now less than $4,000.

    That $4,000 has to pay for student loans that average $27,200. Or, if you’re still in school, for $12,700 in credit card debt.

    With an unemployment rate for 16- to 24-year-olds of almost 50%, two out of every five recent college graduates are living with their parents. But your favorite company may be hiring. Apple, which makes a profit of $420,000 per employee, can pay you about $12 per hour.

    10. The American public paid about FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS to bail out the banks.

    That’s about the same amount of money made by America’s richest 10% in one year. But we all paid for the bailout. And because of it, we lost the opportunity for jobs, mortgage relief, and educational funding.

    Bonus for the super-rich: A QUADRILLION DOLLARS in securities trading nets ZERO sales tax revenue for the U.S.

    The world derivatives market is estimated to be worth over a quadrillion dollars (a thousand trillion). At least $200 trillion of that is in the United States. In 2011 the Chicago Mercantile Exchange reported a trading volume of over $1 quadrillion on 3.4 billion annual contracts.

    A quadrillion dollars. A sales tax of ONE-TENTH OF A PENNY on a quadrillion dollars could pay off the deficit. But the total sales tax was ZERO.

    It’s not surprising that the very rich would like to fudge the numbers, as they have the nation.

    (Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org), and the editor and main author of “American Wars: Illusions and Realities” (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.)

     

  • Thanks for the call, my friend…
    you really made my day!

    A Republican friend texted me this morning, “Congratulations.”  That’s all.  Funny….she usually has so much to say.  She must have been really busy.  I am sure what she really meant to say and would have said if she had time was…

    CONGRATULATIONS TO WOMEN! Our rights were not sold to religious politicians who do not know or care about women’s bodies.  And congratulations to women for still being able to get birth control so we, and not some congressman, can choose when we will have children.

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO HISPANIC PEOPLE! Who have lived here and worked hard all of your lives, and who call America home and have children in school.   I am so happy that you can continue to live the dream, because your tears burn just like mine.  Your hopes and fears are just as powerful as mine and because you deserve a good life just like me.

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO PEOPLE WHO LOVE SOMEONE WHO IS THE SAME SEX AS YOU! Because you should have the right to love whoever you choose and you should not be treated differently because of whom you love.  You should be able to get married, and celebrate your love, and provide insurance for one another and have all of the rights that allow you to take care of each other and your family just like I do.

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO PLANET EARTH! Because we are not going to continue raping you so big oil companies can get rich.  We are going to find other ways of providing for our needs!  Ways that honor our planet, mountains, streams, oceans and prairies, and all the creatures that live here.  Because our planet and all of its creatures means more than stripping and destroying our world so someone else can be rich.  And Congratulations, also, because we recognize that we are creating global warming and we are going to learn more about it so we can fix it before it’s too late.

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO THE MIDDLE CLASS!  Because your children are going to be able to get a quality education!  And the rich are not going to keep getting richer at your expense.   And you are going to have the honor of rebuilding our nation by building bridges, roads, and manufacturing products the whole world needs!

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO MILLIONAIRES! Because you are going to have the proud honor of paying your fair share to help your country become great again!  And that should make you feel better about yourselves  than buying another mansion or private plane!

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR MILITARY!  Because a lot of you are going to be coming home where you belong and where we can cherish and care for you like you have cared for us!

    And CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF US!  We saw a way forward to collectively become the greatest version of the grandest vision we ever had for our planet.  And we chose it together.

    Thanks for the call my friend. You really made my day!

    (Amiee Laun has studied with Neale Donald Walsch, Charol Messenger, and Barbara Marx Hubbard. She was among the first graduates of Barbara’s Agents of Conscious Evolution Training.  She lives and plays in the powerful Black Hills of South Dakota where she is active in many women’s spiritual circles and groups.  You may connect with her at amiee@rushmore.com.)