Two Headlines That Say It All

You've maybe read or heard that the retail chain Toys R Us is going out of business shortly, right? Going bankrupt? It can't keep up with online toy sales so it's having to shut down, right?

With that in mind, check out these two headlines on that subject. They say everything. Here's the first.

Bankruptcy judge approves $14M 

Toys R Us executive bonus payout

And here, here's the second.

31,000 Toys 'R' Us employees: 

No job and no severance

Oh yes.

The deck is stacked, ladies and gentlemen.

And it's stacked, severely, against most of us.

Not done there, here's another beauty.

What scandals? Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan 

gets $4.6M raise

Wells Fargo bank has untold scandals and so, fines, from the government, for scamming their own customers out of millions of dollars but what does the CEO get? 

A huge pay raise.

Because, sure, that makes sense.

You or I would be fired, forget about a raise.

How bad do banks have to get before we regulate them better?

First there was the 2008 financial, financial implosion of the banks that took place, nearly bringing down not just the nation's but nearly the world's economies, both, simultaneously.

Next we got Countrywide Financial cheating people out of millions or billions of dollars on their home mortgages with president, CEO and owner Angelo Mozilo getting away nearly scot-free.

Next up, we more recently had the Barclays Bank manipulation of the Libor interest rates, to our detriment and their benefit.

Fourth, we very recently--this past week--had Wells Fargo getting fined 175 million dollars for putting the financial screws to Blacks and Hispanics across the country.

Fifth, next, "Visa, MasterCard and major banks agreed to pay retailers at least $6 billion to settle a long-running lawsuit that alleged the card issuers conspired to fix the fees that stores pay to accept credit cards." Sick. We're being used and thrown to the dogs.

Now, we have JP Morgan saying yesterday that they lost not just 2 billion dollars but at least nearly 6 billion dollars--it may climb higher, they said--because they didn't have the proper people and procedures in place to protect their clients, themselves and the nation from this big a fleecing and scandal.

At what point do we recognize that we need to regulate banks better and more thoroughly?

Will it be when they collapse, completely?

Is that what it has to take?

Will we then have learned our lessons?

Do we have to wait that long?

Links: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/22/morganstanley.goldmansachs

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1877351_1877350_1877339,00.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9398723/Barclays-manipulated-Libor-submissions-to-fit-in-with-the-crowd.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/09/elizabeth-magner-new-orleans-wells-fargo_n_1412412.html

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/jpmorgan-reports-second-quarter-profit-of-5-billion-down-9/

http://www.iwatchnews.org/2012/07/13/9579/visa-mastercard-6b-settlement-over-card-fees?utm_source=iwatchnews&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=rss

Note to Washington: A minimum corporate tax makes sense

There is a great article out right now on The Huffington Post by Chuck Collins making a terrific point:

We're chumps unless we force Congress to stop tax haven abuse.



Instead of cutting state and federal budgets, the United States should crack down on the corporate tax dodgers thumbing their noses at us.


Across the nation, states are making deep cuts that will wreck the quality of life for everyone to close budget gaps that total more than $100 billion.


But there's a more sensible option. Overseas tax havens enable companies to pretend their profits are earned in other countries like the Cayman Islands. Simply making that ruse illegal would bring home an estimated $100 billion a year.


The next time you read a story about some politician bemoaning that "there's no money" and "we have to make cuts," just point to artful tax dodgers in our midst.

They include some of the banks that trashed the economy but gladly took our tax dollars to stay alive after the economic meltdown. Bank of America. Wells Fargo. Citigroup.


Goldman Sachs took a $10 billion taxpayer bailout but then gamed its effective tax rate down to one percent through what its shakedown-artist executives call "changes in geographic earnings mix." Shame on them. Pay up.


See that FedEx delivery van go by on the roads you paid for? Pay up FedEx! Don't pretend you're not making billions in the U.S. Don't lie and tell us you made all those profits on some island with more palm trees than people. We know the demand for coconut delivery isn't that big.


These corporations are heavy users of our taxpayer funded public infrastructure and property rights protection systems. They use our regulated marketplace, call upon our law enforcement system and judiciary to remedy disputes. They're protected by U.S. police forces and firefighters. They enjoy all the privileges and benefits of tax-paying citizens. They just don't pay their fair share for them.


So, ExxonMobil: the next time your gas station erupts in flames, why don't you call the fire department on the Cayman Islands? Or when someone holds up the joint, how about calling the Luxembourg police, since that's where you claim your profits so you don't have to pay the taxes you owe Uncle Sam.


Hey, Pfizer. Without our remarkable taxpayer-funded system of patents and intellectual property rights protections, everyone and their brother would be making Viagra and undercutting your sales of little blue pills. Pay up!


Those of us who pay sales taxes and have income taxes withheld from our paychecks will bear the brunt of state and federal budget cuts in schools, public transportation, and recreational facilities. Our most vulnerable family members and neighbors will suffer thanks to cuts in mental health services, elder care, and Medicaid.


Oh yes, and children. Arizona is cutting health care for 47,000 children. California, New York and Mississippi are cutting K-12 education funding. Hey, kids don't vote. Nor do they have corporate lobbyists. An estimated 900,000 jobs will be cut, including teachers, firefighters, police officers, and medical first responders.


Boeing, you want another contract for a taxpayer-funded military jet? Well, pay up! Pay up General Electric, Mattel, Dow Chemical, Hewlett-Packard, and Cisco. Yes, we know you pay some taxes. But look these children who are losing their health insurance and teaching aides in the eye. Tell them you're paying your fair share.


These global corporations will complain that forcing them to pay their fair share of taxes will "kill jobs." Let's be clear: the patriotic businesses that currently pay their taxes and have to compete against these tax dodgers are the employers we want. It undercuts U.S. jobs for domestic banks, retailers, and manufacturers to have to compete against companies that can game the tax system.


The next time you're waiting longer for a bus or train than you should, or someone you know can't get timely mental health or drug treatment services, remember the tax dodgers. The next time your car hits a pothole or your kid's teacher loses her job, remember the corporations that are using armies of accountants to lower their tax bills.


In a democracy, if we sit back and just grumble, we get what we deserve. We're chumps until we wake up and force our members of Congress to stop tax haven abuse.

I ask here again, why isn't there at least say a 10% minimum corporate tax (or some such fair and wise amount) which any and all should pay so a) they have access to our markets and b) they support our infrastructure and so, in effect, the country itself they're benefiting from?

Isn't that the least they can do?  Isn't it the least we can ask of them?

Wouldn't it be downright patriotic to pay, on their part, let alone fair?

And why is no one proposing this?

Link to original post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chuck-collins/pay-up-corporate-tax-dodg_b_828925.html   (Thanks and a hat tip to longtime friend Dennis for pointing out this article).

One success, one fail for the Mayor

Last week, I didn't get a chance to pat the mayor on the back, for once, so to speak, for helping slow down Wells Fargo on the sale of some foreclosed-on houses in town.

One "attaboy" from me--along with others--for doing something well and right in town, instead of complaining--more--about him.

From the Mayor's letter to the city::

On May 12, the Mayor held a press conference asking Kansas Citians to get involved in a planned huge auction of houses owned by Wells Fargo as the result of foreclosures.

The Mayor was concerned that the houses would be purchased by out-of-town investors who would do little with them until the housing market rebounds. The problem with this scenario is that the houses typically end up being an eyesore in the neighborhoods - with weed filled yards that the city is then burdened to clean-up until they can track down the investors to pony up and pay for the maintenance.

After his press conference, Wells Fargo canceled the auction.

Excellent. Instead of absentee landlords, from out of town, buying up and owning these properties, maybe more local investors can snap them up at bargain prices, fix them up a bit and take care of them, instead of letting them become, as said above, eyesores.

So good on ya', Mayor. If you'd do more good and positive things like this, maybe you won't be thought of so poorly when you're thrown out of office this Fall.

Here's the fail:

One man was dead and another had serious injuries after a shooting at 63rd Street and Swope Parkway in Kansas City, Mo., Sunday night.

Another shooting in town.

Another senseless killing.

At what point--I ask again--is this mayor going to stand up in front of local TV cameras with other civic, community, church and other leaders and say we are not/cannot any longer take these pointless, tragic shootings and killings and we are going to come together to fight them?

I know I've been asking this for the last year here.

It's nearly one more Summer upon us and the temperatures are rising, along with the humidity and we all know the likelihood these will increase is extremely strong.

I would contend--and I think a lot of other people would, too--that this issue of drive-by and other senseless homicides in town is the number one concern in the city at present and has been during this mayor's entire term in office, yet he hasn't addressed it, full-on, once.

It's way overdue.

I'm calling on this mayor once again, to address the issue of homicides, not because I'm a blogger, certainly, but because I'm a resident of the city and because this situation is ugly, stupid and desperately in need of attention and solutions.

Mayor? Your response?