Corporate Feudalism is where we are headed.

3/28/2011 1:57:39 PM

3/28/2011 2:00:06 PM

^you didn't even watch it.

3/28/2011 2:00:53 PM

I, for one, welcome our new corporate overlords.

3/28/2011 2:02:22 PM

I agree with the idea, but I hate the fear mongering style reporting.

3/28/2011 2:08:36 PM

Is it fear mongering if you should actually be afraid?

3/28/2011 2:11:41 PM

interesting shout-out to the Iroquois Confederacy

3/28/2011 2:16:43 PM

1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.


2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.


3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.


4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.


5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.


6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.


7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.


8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.


9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.


10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.

3/28/2011 2:58:43 PM

RT, as professional as always

3/28/2011 2:59:42 PM

^^Hopefully, you're now starting to realize that the administration is not on our side. Let's take, for instance, our Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner. His mentor was Larry Summers. He was the president of the New York Fed. He worked directly with Henry Paulson, a former CEO of Goldman Sachs, to engineer the bailout of the huge banks. He might as well have conflict of interest written on his forehead.

We're being scammed. Our leaders are either in on it or completely oblivious and being manipulated. Expecting government to "crack down" on this fraudulent activity is ridiculous. The government has been backing it the entire time, and any claim otherwise is empty rhetoric.

3/28/2011 3:10:24 PM

^^^Those are the whats. Can you give us the whys?

3/28/2011 4:36:12 PM

Easy. Handouts to friends of the administration.

3/28/2011 4:42:25 PM

Corporations write the tax laws.

Anyone here that works for a living pays more taxes than GE or Exxon.

3/28/2011 6:57:17 PM

Jeans, a dress shirt, tie, and jacket is a terrible look.

3/28/2011 8:42:34 PM

just because you got a tax refund doesn't mean you didn't pay any taxes. I got a refund this year, but I most certainly paid taxes. dumbass

Quote :

"2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion. "

really? 1 trillion? That's bigger than ALL of TARP. got a fucking source for that made up number?

Quote :

"5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year. "

a company gets a contract, so it shouldn't get a refund on taxes it paid but doesn't owe? huh?

Quote :

"8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury."

again, source?

3/28/2011 8:56:39 PM

This country is so fucked up we've got serfs defending the corporate aristocracy.

3/28/2011 9:23:24 PM

But I might be a corporate aristocrat one day!

3/28/2011 9:27:21 PM

still waiting on those sources.

btw, are you telling me that a guy who makes 1.5million a year and pays 500bux more on his taxes than he was supposed to shouldn't get a tax refund? just curious. wait, next time you pay more than you have to, should you also be denied a tax refund?

3/28/2011 9:41:03 PM

^ I assumed he meant they received a net refund of more than they paid, which is quite common nowadays thanks to runaway tax credits, which you get back whether you paid taxes or not.

3/28/2011 11:49:22 PM

pryderi, tell me again why someone should lose their rights to freedom of speech and association just because they work for a corporation?

3/28/2011 11:51:49 PM

Time to lower the corporate tax rate and close up some loopholes.

3/29/2011 12:36:42 AM

^^^ maybe, but maybe he could offer sources for his claims and remove the uncertainty.

^ I can get behind that

[Edited on March 29, 2011 at 12:41 AM. Reason : ]

3/29/2011 12:40:31 AM

still waiting on those sources. still waiting on you to me why a company shouldn't get a refund on taxes it paid but didn't owe

3/29/2011 11:24:07 AM

still waiting...

3/30/2011 2:49:26 PM

I waited for you Frye pryderi

3/31/2011 7:39:25 PM

I'm waiting to hear back from Bernie Sanders.

3/31/2011 7:41:44 PM

so, you have no reason to explain why someone shouldn't get change back from a transaction. got it

4/2/2011 7:28:21 PM

GE didn't pay any taxes, and got a refund.

4/2/2011 7:42:44 PM

because they didn't owe any taxes. Be pissed off about it, but that is how the system is set up. And, if people like you didn't decide we needed to tax the fuck out of corporations here, then they wouldn't move their headquarters overseas to avoid the 35% tax rate while other nations have more reasonable rates of 15-20%


but, you bitched about more than just GE. Explain to me why someone shouldn't get change back when they pay more than they are supposed to...

[Edited on April 2, 2011 at 9:54 PM. Reason : ]

4/2/2011 9:54:02 PM

Name one corporation pays their full 30% tax. Corporations would rather have a "30%" tax rate full of loopholes than an no-deductions 15% tax rate.

Aaron, you sound like one of those "temporarily embarrassed millionaires" Steinbeck spoke about.

4/3/2011 9:37:01 AM

Quote :

"Explain to me why someone shouldn't get change back when they pay more than they are supposed to..."

Just stop with this stupid red herring.

4/3/2011 9:40:47 AM

4/3/2011 9:48:12 AM

4/3/2011 10:05:23 AM

Quote :

"Just stop with this stupid red herring."

How is this a red herring? Look at his 10 examples up there. 2-6 are "so and so got a tax refund". Do you know what a tax refund is? #1 sux, 7 and 10 bitch about low taxes, 8 and 9 bitch about tax incentives and says little about how much the company actually paid. So the majority of his gripes were "so and so got a tax refund." That's not a red herring. That's talking about his actual argument. So, I ask you again, pryderi, what's wrong with someone getting a tax refund?

4/3/2011 5:58:57 PM

Quote :

"How is this a red herring? "

Because he isn't arguing that people shouldn't get refunds when the law says they should. Are you being obtuse on purpose?

4/3/2011 6:36:54 PM

make all subsidies that aren't for individuals illegal. give the trillions you save in simplifying the tax code back to the tax payers and shrink the fed

4/3/2011 7:00:33 PM

so, if he isn't arguing that, then why are half of his beefs about companies getting refunds?

4/3/2011 8:06:20 PM

GE most certainly paid almost nothing in federal taxes, not some misinterpreted refund nonsense. Burr, these are not refunds returning money you overpaid. For GE at least, it is the actual balance with the federal govt.

4/3/2011 8:44:19 PM

sure. but note I am and have been talking about pryderi's list of 10, in which GE is not mentioned

4/3/2011 8:46:04 PM

Quote :

"then why are half of his beefs about companies getting refunds?"

They aren't about the refund you dumbass. Seriously? Do you not fucking get the point he is making? It isn't that companies are getting refunds...

ITS THAT THEY AREN'T PAYING TAXES THANKS TO LEGISLATION THEY BOUGHT.

for fucks sake

[Edited on April 3, 2011 at 9:50 PM. Reason : .]

4/3/2011 9:49:21 PM

every Hyatt I stay in has RT

its one of the few highlights of my travels

4/3/2011 9:51:58 PM

Quote :

"ITS THAT THEY AREN'T PAYING TAXES THANKS TO LEGISLATION THEY BOUGHT."

how does that follow, then in examples 2-6? Please, show me that. In none of those does it say how much taxes were actually paid or not paid. think, man

Tell you what, I'll even post them. Show me where there is any reference to them not paying taxes. Show me how none of them talk about "so and so got a refund, even though they make lots of money"

Quote :

"2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion. BoA got a tax refund, even though it made a lot of money 3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS. GE made a lot of money, but got a tax refund 4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009. Chevron got a tax refund, but made a lot of money 5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year. Boeing got a contract, but got a tax refund 6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction. Valero made a lot of money, but it got a tax refund and some some tax credits "

please, oh great bald one, show me how there is more in any of these statements than "so and so made a lot of money and got a tax refund" You've got five of them to work with. At best, you've got #6, and even then, that's a weak one. Please, I'm trying to see the point beyond "they got a tax refund! OMFG!!!"

4/3/2011 11:11:02 PM

thats the point. there shouldnt be a scenario where you make profit in the millions and get a tax refund.

4/4/2011 2:56:12 AM

there shouldn't be alot of things, but our gov is pretty fucking stupid.

4/4/2011 9:34:55 AM

Quote :

"thats the point. there shouldnt be a scenario where you make profit in the millions and get a tax refund."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't large businesses required to pay estimated taxes quarterly? So if I estimate that I'm going to earn 50M profit this quarter and pay taxes on that 50M, and then only bring in 30M, I've still made millions in profit, but I'm entitled to a refund as well. Not saying that's what happened here, but to just say blankly that there should never be a situation where you make money and still get a tax refund is stupid/

4/4/2011 1:00:54 PM

^^^ so, if you pay too much on your taxes, you shouldn't get a refund now? really? REALLY?

4/4/2011 5:46:26 PM

^^ To add on to that, and I'm not saying that mbguess thinks this, it is disturbing to me the number of people who view a tax refund as some kind of reward or gift from the government. Refunds are a correction an overpayment of taxes. The money is the tax payers, not the governments, and you don't earn a refund by being poor, or charitable or anything else. Anyone can get a multi thousand dollar refund, they just have to pay those same thousands to the government in taxes over the course of the year, above and beyond what they actually owe.

4/4/2011 6:31:02 PM

No one is talking about that. Or, at least, they shouldn't be. What behavior is being complained about is a refund greater than any taxes paid. A net refund. Which is what they got, thanks to tax credits offered to them by Congress which they get back regardless of any tax liability.

4/4/2011 7:09:32 PM

where are you getting that they got a net refund. In the shit pryderi mentioned, he merely says "tax refund". Thus the reason we asked him years ago for more info, which he has failed to do

4/4/2011 7:11:26 PM