The cost of war isn't just affecting soldiers and their families- let alone Afghan citizens themselves, but people here at home. With so much funding bled out of the treasury, there seems only crumbs left to spend on the domestic priorities.
With high unemployment, a crumbling infrastructure, and struggling states strapped for cash, the cost of war is taking its toll.
Think Progress has calculated ten investments that America could have afforded if we didn't spend $113 billion on war.
Provide 57.5 Million Children with low income health care for 2011.
Provide 23 million people with low income health coverage in 2011.
Give 20.2 million $5,500 Pell Grants to students in 2011.
Give 14.35 million military veterans VA medical care in 2011.
Provide 14.7 million children Head Start funding in 2011.
Give 14.26 million scholarships to university students in 2011.
Provide employment for 1.93 million firefighters in 2011.
Hire 1.75 million Elementary School Teachers in 2011.
Hire 1.65 million Police Officers in 2011.
Equip 25.39 million households with the ability to use solar energy in 2011.
As long as we can afford to spend money on wars like this we have no business discussing cuts in aid to our most vulnerable citizens or our seniors. But that's what we are hearing from our fellow Republicans who will stop at nothing to defend their benefactors-- the kings of finance- and the war mongers of the Military Industrial Complex.
As Upton Sinclair said long ago;
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
As Upton Sinclair said long ago;
It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.
Happy Holidays
Cheating corporations now want a tax holiday.
Several multinational corporations have united under a tax dodging scam called Win America and are pushing Congress to give them a pass for hiding money overseas.
Known as tax repatriation holiday these cheaters would be able to skirt their responsibilities for paying taxes in the U.S. by getting a get-out of-jail-free card.. by bringing back the cash they are hiding in exchange for a lower a lower tax rate.
This flagrant nod to corruption is backed up by the lie that these crooks - if given a tax break- will magically reinvest in America's future by...creating jobs! the same jobs they didn't create last time they were given a tax holiday in 2004.
When companies were given the tax holiday break last time, they ended up cutting thousands of jobs and padding the pockets of their own executives and share holders.
Congress fell for it -shame them once
In 2004 Congress granted corporations to repatriate overseas earnings at far below the normal tax rate.
With promises from the corporations to put money into domestic development, Congress gave them a pass. As soon as the light turned green these same corporations did just the opposite.
About 92% went directly to shareholders, primarily in the form of increased share buybacks and the rest went to increase dividends.
These companies did nothing Congress expected them to, and they even disregarded the law which stated that the money could not be used to raise dividends or repurchase shares.
Dell Computer was one such company that flagrantly misused this so-called "Tax Holiday."
They said part of the money would be brought back to build a new plant in Winston-Salem, N.C.
They brought back $4 billion of tax exempt cash and plugged $100 million into the plant they were planning on opening anyway- the rest of the cash went to buyback their own stock.
Republicans ask for repeat performance of "Tax Holiday."
Here we go again.
House Republicans have proposed giving corporations a 5.25 % tax rate to do it all over again- dropping the 35% rate to a puny 5.25
Thanks to Ayn Rand's boy genius Paul Ryan. ( The one who wants to voucherize Medicare.)
Ryan thinks it's such a great idea- that it should become an everyday occurrence for tax-dodging companies to skirt their responsibilities. Ryan says, "It's a good idea. We ought to do it everyday. Instead of having repatriation every seven years, let's have it every single day by going to a different system."
Just imagine how creative companies could become if they were allowed to do this everyday.
It would grant them even bigger incentives to send money offshore so they could get a tax breaks to bring it back. Better yet it would give companies more leverage to permanently offshore more jobs and funds.
But they wouldn't do that would they?
The Joint Economic Committee has estimated that a permanent repatriation holiday would cost the U.S. nearly $80 billion over ten years.
But hey- Why should America get all of that extra cash.. when needy corporations could use an extra handout or another bailout.
Corporations own Congressman Ryan - and the Republican party. So you can't blame them for doing the
bidding of those who hold the leash.
And for all his talk of destroying Social Security and Medicare, Paul Ryan himself has been known to take
a dip in that nefarious "entitlement pool" .
When Paul Ryan's father passed away...young Paul was granted Social Security Survivor's benefits.
But that was different, so just ignore the hypocrisy.. because, some people are just a little more entitled to entitlement benefits than others.
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| "Let them eat tax-cuts." |
If Marie Antoinette were alive today-you bet she'd be Republican.
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