Big Business Tax Rate: 18.5%

[SiriuslyLong]

A lot obviously. The distortion comes in when you take a rate and extrapolate from it without indicating all the facts surrounding it. Thats how statistics are used to lie. As I have pointed out the 47% (figures vary depending on who you talk to) is made up ofmany people who couldnt possibly pay any federal income tax ($20,000 income for a family of 4) Many are seniors and super low income people. Second, many of those who dont pay federal income tax pay many other taxes. Some Republicans have even been known to imply those 47% dont pay ANY taxes period. An obvious distortion. So when Republicans talk about all the people who dont pay "any taxes" you know theyare lying for political reasons.

You never said or posted anything about the U.S. having among the highest corporate tax rates? This has been a prevalent discussion in the news for the past 3 years or more. You are not that ignorant are you?
Do you know anyone else besides GE that succeeds in reducing their rate. It seems to me that for someone who SAYS (and is obviously lying in my opinion) he is non political you certainly demonstrate a certain affinity (lol) for very political posts.

No its not a NEW target. I think you feign too much lack of knowledge about the issues of the day. I can easily demonstrate how many years this discussion has gone on. Even your favorite "economist" Peter Schiff has talked about this subject. You jiving and
hiding again?

You're being defensive.

Anyone who earns income CAN have their income taxed. Right? Yes, many who don't pay income taxes do pay other taxes. Have you forgotten that very long list of taxes I posted a while back. If some claim 47% don't pay ANY "taxes" INTENTIONALLY, then shame on them.

I hate to admit it, but yes, I was ignorant of the exact number US corporations paid - 35% (before deductions). As you may recall, my primary concern about taxes revolves around saving for my family. That would be correct, right?

GE? They were front page news. Couldn't miss it -- although apparently you'd like to.

I was still hoping you'd question why I thought the dems have a convoluted power base.

[SiriuslyLong]

Does it ever grow old constantly pining for the federal government to confiscate so and so's earnings??

[Havakasha]

For the 2nd time-- GE is listed in the article that I posted for this thread.
You have an obsessIon FOR SOME REASON about that ONE company. As the
article makes clear their are many companies that havent paid taxes.
Look at the larger message of the article and stop trying to score silly little
political points.

No one is PINING for anything but YOU.

"Clinton mostly aligns himself with Obama on the big picture, arguing that the president did the right thing, or at least the best he could given the economy he inherited, with the stimulus package. He dismisses Republican notions, such as privatizing Medicare and Medicaid, and rebukes Republican tax cuts, contrasting the George W. Bush era with his own. “The antigovernment movement’s most cherished conviction is that we can’t raise taxes on the ‘job creators,’ ” Clinton writes. “We tried it their way for twenty of the last thirty years, and their strategy of using blanket tax cuts for high-income individuals didn’t work.”

[SiriuslyLong]

Lately many have characterized this administration as socialist, or having strong socialist leanings. I differ with this characterization. This is not to say Mr. Obama believes in free-markets by any means. On the contrary, he has done and said much that demonstrates his fundamental misunderstanding and hostility towards the truly free market. But a closer, honest examination of his policies and actions in office reveals that, much like the previous administration, he is very much a corporatist. This in many ways can be more insidious and worse than being an outright socialist.

Socialism is a system where the government directly owns and manages businesses. Corporatism is a system where businesses are nominally in private hands, but are in fact controlled by the government. In a corporatist state, government officials often act in collusion with their favored business interests to design polices that give those interests a monopoly position, to the detriment of both competitors and consumers.


A careful examination of the policies pursued by the Obama administration and his allies in Congress shows that their agenda is corporatist. For example, the health care bill that recently passed does not establish a Canadian-style government-run single-payer health care system. Instead, it relies on mandates forcing every American to purchase private health insurance or pay a fine. It also includes subsidies for low-income Americans and government-run health care “exchanges.” Contrary to the claims of the proponents of the health care bill, large insurance and pharmaceutical companies were enthusiastic supporters of many provisions of this legislation because they knew in the end their bottom lines would be enriched by Obamacare.


Similarly, Obama's “cap-and-trade” legislation provides subsidies and specials privileges to large businesses that engage in “carbon trading.” This is why large corporations, such as General Electric support cap-and-trade.

To call the President a corporatist is not to soft-pedal criticism of his administration. It is merely a more accurate description of the President's agenda.

When he is a called a socialist, the President and his defenders can easily deflect that charge by pointing out that the historical meaning of socialism is government ownership of industry; under the President's policies, industry remains in nominally private hands. Using the more accurate term — corporatism — forces the President to defend his policies that increase government control of private industries and expand de facto subsidies to big businesses. This also promotes the understanding that though the current system may not be pure socialism, neither is it free-market since government controls the private sector through taxes, regulations, and subsidies, and has done so for decades.

Using precise terms can prevent future statists from successfully blaming the inevitable failure of their programs on the remnants of the free market that are still allowed to exist. We must not allow the disastrous results of corporatism to be ascribed incorrectly to free market capitalism or used as a justification for more government expansion. Most importantly, we must learn what freedom really is and educate others on how infringements on our economic liberties caused our economic woes in the first place. Government is the problem; it cannot be the solution.