- November 18, 2012
The Athens News
Visit the publisher's websiteBack in the U.S., a group from Occupy Wall Street, which itself was inspired in part by the Spanish M-15 movement against austerity that began on May 15, 2011, has taken a creative approach to the blight of debt that is afflicting millions. Calling itself "Rolling Jubilee," after the ancient practice of forgiving all debts every 50 years, the group is buying debt from lenders, for pennies on the dollar, and canceling it.
The amount may be symbolic, but an important message to President Obama and House Republicans as they wrangle over the future of the U.S. tax rates, deficit reduction and how to fund so-called entitlements. Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies prefers to call Social Security and Medicare "earned benefit programs, because these are programs that American workers are paying into over their lives, and they have a right to that money, to have these basic social programs that have made us a much stronger society with a stronger middle class." Anderson told me, "The approach to the debt should be to look at the ways that we could raise revenues through ... taxing financial transactions ... cutting fossil-fuel subsidies and using carbon taxes, and cutting military spending. That kind of combination could raise trillions of dollars over the next decade."
- November 16, 2012
Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting
Visit the publisher's websiteThis week on CounterSpin: You're going to be hearing a lot more from corporate America, declares one press account, about getting the nation's finances in order. That's due to the Fix the Debt campaign, a group of CEOs and business heads with supposedly moderate reasonable plans to cut the deficit.
So for those concerned that we wouldn't be hearing enough from corporate America, worry not. What should we know about Fix the Debt and their plans? We'll hear from Sarah Anderson, director of the Institute for Policy Studies' Global Economy Project.
- November 16, 2012
The (Prestonsburg, KY) Floyd County Times features article “The Trojan Horse in the Debt Debate”
Visit the publisher's website • See the article - November 16, 2012
The Newark Star-Ledger features article “The Trojan Horse in the Debt Debate”
Visit the publisher's website • See the article - November 16, 2012
Star Ledger features report “The CEO Campaign to ‘Fix’ the Debt: A Trojan Horse for Massive Corporate Tax Breaks”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportTheir ads call for what appears to be a moderate agenda of balancing spending cuts with some tax increases in order to bring down the deficit and ensure a bright future for the United States. But a closer look suggests the Fix the Debt campaign is a Trojan Horse.
Behind their moderate slogans is an extreme agenda focused on further reducing corporate taxes and shifting the burden onto the poor and elderly.
At the Institute for Policy Studies, we analyzed how much the Fix the Debt member corporations would have to gain from this particular corporate tax break. The results are staggering.
We focused on the 63 Fix the Debt member companies that are publicly held and therefore must report how much they’ve amassed in overseas profits. Combined, these firms stand to gain as much as $134 billion in tax windfalls if the territorial system is adopted. That’s $134 billion that won’t go toward fixing the debt.
One of the biggest potential winners from a territorial tax system is Microsoft, which could reap a savings of $19.4 billion on its $60.8 billion in accumulated foreign earnings.
- November 16, 2012
Capital Times
Visit the publisher's websiteThe amount may be symbolic, but an important message to President Obama and House Republicans as they wrangle over the future of the U.S. tax rates, deficit reduction and how to fund so-called entitlements. Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies prefers to call Social Security and Medicare “earned benefit programs, because these are programs that American workers are paying into over their lives, and they have a right to that money, to have these basic social programs that have made us a much stronger society with a stronger middle class.”
Anderson told me, “The approach to the debt should be to look at the ways that we could raise revenues through ... taxing financial transactions ... cutting fossil-fuel subsidies and using carbon taxes, and cutting military spending. That kind of combination could raise trillions of dollars over the next decade.”
- November 15, 2012
The Guardian
Visit the publisher's websiteBack in the U.S., a group from Occupy Wall Street . . . Calling itself "Rolling Jubilee," after the ancient practice of forgiving all debts every 50 years, the group is buying debt from lenders, for pennies on the dollar, and canceling it.
The amount may be symbolic, but an important message to President Obama and House Republicans as they wrangle over the future of the U.S. tax rates, deficit reduction and how to fund so-called entitlements.
Sarah Anderson of the Institute for Policy Studies prefers to call Social Security and Medicare "earned benefit programs, because these are programs that American workers are paying into over their lives, and they have a right to that money, to have these basic social programs that have made us a much stronger society with a stronger middle class." Anderson told me, "The approach to the debt should be to look at the ways that we could raise revenues through ... taxing financial transactions ... cutting fossil-fuel subsidies and using carbon taxes, and cutting military spending. That kind of combination could raise trillions of dollars over the next decade."
- November 14, 2012
Truthout 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[S]ome of these corporations have already launched a campaign to convince lawmakers to give them huge tax breaks during fiscal cliff negotiations. Sixty-three CEOs representing the nation's largest corporations – including GE – are calling for a "territorial" tax system that will benefit corporations that offshore jobs and stash their profits overseas. According to a report by the Institute for Policy Studies – this new tax system would translate to $134 billion in new profits for these same corporations, with GE alone potentially saving more than $35 billion. Currently – corporations can defer tax payment on profits owned overseas to the future when they bring that money home. Under this new plan, corporations will never, ever have to pay taxes on those overseas profits.
- November 14, 2012
National Catholic Reporter features report “Executive Excess 2012: The CEO Hands in Uncle Sam's Pocket”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportThe Institute for Policy Studies’ “Executive Excess 2012” reports that in 2010 and 2011 a quarter of America’s 100 highest-paid CEOs took home more in pay than their corporations paid the U.S. in taxes. Two of those firms were Citigroup and AIG, both bailed out by taxpayers. In total, these 25 corporations have 533 subsidiaries in tax havens such as the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Gibraltar.
The CEOs’ hands in Uncle Sam’s pocket -- to use the institute’s neat phrase -- mean that “the four most direct tax subsidies for excessive executive pay cost taxpayers $14.4 billion per year -- $46 for every man, woman and child,” who, in effect, buy a CEO lunch, with a glass of wine, once a year.
- November 13, 2012
The Sidney (MT) Herald features report “Inequality Report Card: Grading Congress on Inequality”
Visit the publisher's website • See the reportWe awarded “A+” grades to the 12 House members who did the most to narrow America’s economic divide over the past two years. Eleven of these lawmakers won.
Three of the five senators who nailed top marks for their legislative actions to reduce inequality in America were up for re-election. They all won: Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I.
Of the 45 [one-percent-friendly representatives] who were up for re-election, two lost. One was Rep. Nan Hayworth, R-N.Y., who was the lead sponsor of a bill to repeal a provision in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law that requires corporations to disclose the ratio between what they pay their CEO and their workers.
This new metric could encourage a narrowing of the staggering inequality gaps within companies. In the midst of Hayworth’s two-year crusade against that provision, the SEC has failed to implement it.
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Sarah Anderson
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Scott Klinger
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.