Inequality and the Common Good

Fix the Debt claims their agenda is not just about spending cuts. But when it comes to their tax proposals, they use the slippery term “pro-growth reform” to push for cuts in deductions that are likely to include credits for working families and — you guessed it — more corporate tax breaks. Chief among these is a proposal to switch to a territorial system under which corporate foreign earnings would be permanently exempted (instead of being taxed when they are returned to America).

This idea, also supported by the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, would make it even more profitable for big corporations to use accounting tricks to disguise U.S. profits as income earned in tax havens. Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that such tax haven abuse will cost the Treasury more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

So who are the CEOs who are telling the rest of us to be responsible and tighten our belts after they’ve spent decades stiffing the U.S. Treasury? Of the 80 members of Fix the Debt’s CEO Fiscal Leadership Council, here are 10 that stand out as the biggest hypocrites:

“Fix the Debt” is a coalition of more than 80 CEOs who claim they know best how to deal with our nation’s fiscal challenges. 

These are guys who’ve mastered every tax-dodging trick in the book. And now that they’ve boosted their corporate profits by draining the public treasury, how do they propose we put our fiscal house back in order? By squeezing programs for the poor and elderly, including Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

This idea, also supported by the Bowles-Simpson deficit commission, would make it even more profitable for big corporations to use accounting tricks to disguise U.S. profits as income earned in tax havens. Citizens for Tax Justice estimates that such tax haven abuse will cost the Treasury more than $1 trillion over the next decade.

The Great Recession has brought the disparity between the rich and the poor to the forefront of the news. The Occupy Wall Street movement and terms such as the 99% and 1% further highlight the attention about the subject. 

Read more: States with the Widest Gap Between the Rich and Poor - 24/7 Wall St. http://247wallst.com/2012/10/26/states-with-the-widest-gap-between-the-rich-and-poor/#ixzz2AR0Facpe

Additionally, we looked at the Institute for Policy Studies’ Inequality Report Card, which provided grades to senators and congressmen based on their voting record related to income inequality.

Joe the Plumber has since largely faded from view . . . And the issue that lent him celebrity status has more or less disappeared. In the 2012 presidential debates, we’ve had not one mention of America’s incredibly top-heavy distribution of income and wealth.

[A] typical Japanese household today sports more than triple the wealth of a typical U.S. household, and typical French households have twice as much.

Average Japanese and French don’t work any harder than average people in the United States. They just live in societies that do a much better job of sharing the wealth that their work creates.

Maybe one day Americans will live in a society that shares. Maybe one day our presidential candidates will even talk about sharing.

Four years ago, a plumber by the name of Joe Wurzelbacher injected a bit of a debate over inequality right into the heart of the 2008 presidential race.

Now four years later Joe the Plumber has largely faded from view. He's running a lackluster campaign for Congress, as a conservative Republican. And the issue that gave Joe the Plumber celebrity status -- wealth redistribution -- has more or less totally disappeared.

Last week, the second presidential debate of 2012 came and went without a single mention of the word "inequality" or America's incredibly top-heavy distribution of income and wealth.

Maybe one day Americans will live in a society that shares. Maybe one day our presidential candidates will even talk about sharing.