- November 28, 2012
New Jersey Newsroom
Visit the publisher's websiteThe CEO Fiscal Leadership Council is made up of 63 companies, including heavy weights such as GE, Boeing, Honeywell and Goldman Sachs. In particular, they advocate changes that would “reform the tax code and cut low-priority spending,” and "keep debt under control over the long-term by focusing on the long-term growth of entitlement programs."
However, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, their ideas of change also include massive tax breaks for themselves and their corporations. . . .
The companies want the government to cut spending – but here the message is decidedly mixed. While advocating cuts in entitlement spending, Boeing has paid its lobbyists $12 million since last January to fight proposed cuts to defense and aerospace spending.
- November 28, 2012
The Nation features report “The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportThat’s not exactly “shared sacrifice.” A report from the Institute for Policy Studies notes that the 63 CEOs behind “Fix the Debt” would reap $134 billion in tax windfalls for their companies just from a territorial tax system alone. That naturally would increase, not decrease, the deficit, so somebody’s got to pay—hence the Very Serious pleas to “reform” Medicare and Social Security.
“These CEOs paint a stark picture of hypocrisy,” said Scott Klinger, co-author of that IPS report, in a statement. “They’re simply taking advantage of the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ to push the same old agenda of more corporate tax breaks while shifting costs onto the poor and elderly.”
- November 28, 2012
The Washington Post features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the report"Liberal and conservative groups alike are circulating reports that allege that the chief executives who comprise Fix the Debt run companies that have been promoting a “rash of corporate tax breaks” in the name of pro-growth tax reform. Beyond that, the group’s CEO members have been criticized by the left-leaning Institute for Policy Studies for seeking cuts in Social Security and Medicare for elderly Americans 'while sitting on an average of $9 million each in retirement funds.'"
- November 28, 2012
CNN features report “The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks”
Visit the publisher's website • See the report"The Institute for Policy Studies, a longtime critic of CEO pay and economic inequality, has since put out two publications impugning the motives of those on the council.
'These CEOs paint a stark picture of hypocrisy,' said Scott Klinger, a co-author of one of the reports said in a statement. 'They're simply taking advantage of the so-called 'fiscal cliff' to push the same old agenda of more corporate tax breaks while shifting costs onto the poor and elderly.'"
- November 28, 2012
CNN Money features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportBut the most high-profile part of the campaign -- and the one that has been sharply criticized by the left -- is its CEO fiscal leadership council, which includes some of the biggest names in corporate America.
. . . The Institute for Policy Studies, a longtime critic of CEO pay and economic inequality, has since put out two publications impugning the motives of those on the council.
"These CEOs paint a stark picture of hypocrisy," said Scott Klinger, a co-author of one of the reports said in a statement. "They're simply taking advantage of the so-called 'fiscal cliff' to push the same old agenda of more corporate tax breaks while shifting costs onto the poor and elderly."
- November 27, 2012
Think Progress features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the report"These CEOs have little cause for concern if government retirement assistance is cut, as they have millions of dollars squirreled away in their personal retirement accounts."
- November 27, 2012
The Huffington Post features report “The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportAs negotiations to avert the so-called fiscal cliff intensify, corporate lobbying groups are pushing key tax perks that benefit the wealthy. A coalition of financial institutions, fossil fuel companies, telecommunications firms and even the cigarette company Altria are teaming up to block a tax increase on dividends -- a policy that overwhelmingly aids the rich.
The corporate coalition, known as The Alliance for Savings and Investment, is composed exclusively of corporations and lobbying groups.
The Alliance for Savings and Investment, which declined to comment for this article, is just one of several corporate lobbying groups that are pushing to include tax perks for the wealthy and large corporations in any deal to avert the fiscal cliff. The Campaign to Fix the Debt has organized dozens of corporate CEOs to advocate for $134 billion in tax breaks for Fortune 500 companies as part of any deal to avert the fiscal cliff, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank.
- November 27, 2012
Mother Jones features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the report - November 27, 2012
The (San Francisco) Beyond Chron features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportA new Institute for Policy Studies report released on November 27 examines CEOs of public companies who have endorsed the “Fix the Debt” campaign. It finds that these CEOs, while calling for ordinary Americans to take cuts in Social Security and Medicare, are sitting on an average of $9 million each in retirement funds. Most are also running large deficits in their own employees’ pension funds.
“These CEOs paint a stark picture of hypocrisy,” said Scott Klinger, a report co-author. “They are feathering their own retirement nests while trying to deny ordinary Americans — including their own employees — their hard-earned nest eggs. They’re simply taking advantage of the so-called ‘fiscal cliff’ to push the same old agenda of more corporate tax breaks while shifting costs onto the poor and elderly.” - November 26, 2012
Fortune features report “A Pension Deficit Disorder: The Massive CEO Retirement Funds and Underfunded Worker Pensions at Firms Pushing Social Security Cuts”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportWhat should boards pay CEOs for anyway? A new study raises questions about the structure and size of CEO pay that deserve answers -- and fast.
An analysis from the Institute for Policy Studies' (IPS) released earlier this month shows that CEOs will reap huge personal moolah if a fiscal cliff campaign some of them are undertaking is successful. According to the report, the Fix the Debt campaign "has raised $60 million and recruited more than 80 CEOs."
. . . Certainly, putting people to work just because is not on many company agendas. The IPS study states that the "63 public companies in the Fix the Debt campaign" currently have more than "$480 billion in cash on their balance sheets, enough to pay living wage salaries for 10 million workers."
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In many countries around the world, there is growing momentum behind proposals to place a very small tax on transactions of stock, currency, derivatives, and other financial assets. Such financial speculation taxes are one of the few available options that could generate the enormous financial resources required to pay for the continuing costs of the global financial and economic crisis, including reducing the high rate of job loss, and to achieve key development, health, education and climate change objectives in developing countries. Even at very low rates, such taxes could also discourage the type of short-term financial speculation that has little social value but poses high risks to the economy.