Inequality and the Common Good

The 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.

We 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.

Well, let's take a look at just who exactly wants to "help" us "fix the debt."

Fix the Debt is co-chaired and co-"steered" by an array of politicians from both sides of the aisle.

But there are others on the steering committee. One of these is Dave Cote, CEO of Honeywell. Cote ranked 11th on a list compiled in a recent study conducted by the Institute for Policy Studies of executives who have saved the most from the Bush tax cuts. According to the IPS, Cote's taxable compensation for 2011 was a bit over $55 million, and he got out of paying about $2.5 million thanks to the Bush tax cuts.

. . . This is the dream team Peterson has assembled to pull us out of this whole mess. Oddly enough, you may have noticed, the lineup looks strikingly similar to that of the team that put us in this mess in the first place. . . 

Let's be very clear, Peterson and his gang are fixated on the debt because they don't want to pay their fair share of taxes!

But, is there anyone left in the English-speaking world who isn’t aware of corporations’ and Wall Street’s culpability in the current fiscal crisis?

Quick, who appears to be one of those market true-believers, does not provide empirical (nor any other) support for her characterization of Krugman’s views as “just laughable” and “downright dangerous.” The “support” on which Quick apparently depends is the position of 44 CEOs from Fortune 500 companies who slavishly embrace Hooverville mentality and are now advocating the Simpson-Bowles plan.

Quick does not mention that the many Fortune 500 companies have been contributing significantly to the deficit by not paying adequate taxes — in fact, some companies have been paying “zero” taxes. If corporations and the rich paid taxes at the same level as in the 1960s, the debt would disappear in a decade,” according to a study by the Institute for Policy Studies.