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Ruling Class

As Charles Koch Cultivates Anti-War Image, Koch Industries Profits From Defense Contracts

July 30, 2019 Alex Kotch, Readsludge.com   , , ,
The right-wing billionaire has teamed up with unlikely ally George Soros on “military restraint,” but Koch Industries subsidiaries make millions by supplying the Navy with circuitry. Libertarian billionaire industrialist Charles Koch has gone to great lengths to paint himself as an anti-interventionist. He has funded foreign policy-focused think tanks and university centers such as the conflict-averse Center for the Study of Statesmanship at Catholic University and the Notre Dame International Security Center, which is directed by anti-NATO professor Michael Desch.

This London Firm Helps The Wealthy Hide Assets – Or Steal Them. Luckily We Have 15 Years Of Their Client Communications.

July 26, 2019 Barrett Brown, Counterpunch.org , , ,
It is my cheerful duty to announce the acquisition of around 85 gigabytes of leaked emails, phone calls, faxes, and other documents originating from the London-based tax shelter firm Formations House, best known to the public for the assortment of often colorful scandals involving such figures as former Ukranian president Viktor Yanukovych, and best known to the global kleptocracy as a cheap and discreet option by which to avoid taxes or steal them altogether. These materials, which cover fifteen years from the company’s founding in 2001, were recently obtained by Distributed Denial of Secrets...

Let’s Establish A Wealth Tax — And Give Every Family $25,000 A Year

July 24, 2019 John R. Talbott, Truthout.org , ,
Three men in the U.S. have more accumulated wealth than half of all Americans, 165 million people. Our corporations control more shareholder wealth than 99 percent of Americans combined. 90 percent of us have less than 7 percent of the wealth in the country if you exclude pension assets, which may be of great interest to younger Americans given the difficulty in today’s market of finding a job with pension benefits. Like most, you probably think the U.S. tax system is progressive, that rich people pay a higher percentage than low-income people.

How Officials Discuss Foreign Policy When Nobody’s Watching

July 20, 2019 John McEvoy, The Canary. , , ,
On 11 September 1973, the Chilean military violently removed the elected government of Salvador Allende and installed a dictatorship under Augusto Pinochet. UK-manufactured arms were used in the coup, and prime minister Margaret Thatcher would go on to call Pinochet a “true friend” and lobby against his persecution for war crimes. Less known, however, is how UK officials discussed Chile’s coup behind closed doors. Declassified foreign office documents published by historian Mark Curtis shed light on how UK officials discuss foreign policy when nobody’s watching. UK planners were quite aware of the bloody nature of the coup.

A Bus Tour Pushes For Higher Taxes On The Rich

July 17, 2019 By Jarod Facundo, Inequality.org , ,
The GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted late in 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported late this spring, has been a smashing success — for the U.S. corporations that have been smashing workers for the past four decades. Under the tax cut, the estimated average corporate tax rate has dropped from 23.4 to 12.1 percent while workers have seen “no indication of a surge in wages.” Now, nearly two years after the legislation passed, organizers want members of Congress to know they’re still fighting this massive upwards redistribution of wealth.

A Bus Tour Pushes For Higher Taxes On The Rich

July 16, 2019 By Jarod Facundo, Inequality.org , ,
The GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted late in 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported late this spring, has been a smashing success — for the U.S. corporations that have been smashing workers for the past four decades. Under the tax cut, the estimated average corporate tax rate has dropped from 23.4 to 12.1 percent while workers have seen “no indication of a surge in wages.” Now, nearly two years after the legislation passed, organizers want members of Congress to know they’re still fighting this massive upwards redistribution of wealth.

Does A Presidential Candidate Who Thinks Billionaires Can Be ‘Deserving’ Deserve To Be President?

July 1, 2019 By Sam Pizzigati, Inequality.org ,
The two dozen candidates for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination all have extremely busy schedules. Especially this week, what with the first candidate debates in Miami. So none of us should be surprised that none of the Democratic Party’s White House hopefuls showed up this past Tuesday at the landmark Taxing the (Very) Richconference that two of the nation’s top progressive think tanks — the Economic Policy Institute and the Institute for Policy Studies — hosted in Washington, D.C.

Society Is In Decay – When The Worst Is First And The Best Is Last

May 31, 2019 Ralph Nader, Nader.org ,
Plutocrats like to control the range of permissible public dialogue. Plutocrats also like to shape what society values. If you want to see where a country’s priorities lie, look at how it allocates its money. While teachers and nurses earn comparatively little for performing critical jobs, corporate bosses including those who pollute our planet and bankrupt defenseless families, make millions more. Wells Fargo executives are cases in point. The vastly overpaid CEO of General Electric left his teetering company in shambles.

There Is A Deep Crisis In The Ruling US Imperialist System

May 30, 2019 Danny Haiphong, Blackagendareport.com , ,
This writer became an anti-imperialist and anti-war activist only after studying the Black liberation movement. Individuals such as Claudia Jones and organizations such as the Black Panther Party placed internationalism at the forefront of their work to achieve true emancipation for Black America. The legacy of the Black liberation movement helped establish Black America as the most pro-peace constituency in the United States. As Black Agenda Report’s Executive Editor Glen Ford notes, Black G.I.s and military officers resisted efforts to put down the Black uprisings that swept across American cities in the mid-1960s.

Will The Rich Escape Climate Apocalypse?

May 29, 2019 Tom Whyman, Newint.org ,
Each day, it seems, a new headline in a newspaper or social media feed makes clear just how close we are to environmental destruction. And yet politics seems eternally consumed by the same old nonsense, governments whining about migrants or penny-pinching over austerity. Where is the political response to climate change? The disturbing truth is that it’s already here. With the effects of climate change already beginning to devastate the Global South, Western governments are militarizing their borders against anticipated refugees.

Hedge Fund Billionaires Were Democrats’ Main Bankrollers In 2018

May 21, 2019 Donald Shaw, Readsludge.com , ,
A new report shows that three-quarters of the money that individuals donated to pro-Democrat outside spending groups in 2018 came from finance founders and executives. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats benefited more than Republicans from election spending by outside groups for the first time in recent history. Now, thanks to a new report from Public Citizen, we have a better understanding of where much of that money backing Democrats came from: wealthy individuals who earn their livings as hedge fund founders, bank executives, and other key positions in the financial industry.

Why The ‘One Percent’ In The US Is Worried

May 7, 2019 David A Love, Aljazeera.com , ,
Inequality in the United States has reached such levels lately that even members of the "one percent" have started worrying.  Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates hedge fund who is ranked 57th wealthiest person in the world by Forbes magazine, quipped in a recent interview that capitalism is denying "equal opportunity for the American dream". He said that he was "a byproduct of capitalism when it also gave equal opportunity", adding "I was very lucky to live the American dream by having the proper care and the proper public school education … A number of things have changed."

Names And Locations Of The Top 100 People Killing The Planet

May 7, 2019 Staff, Decolonialatlas.wordpress.com , , ,
Just 100 companies are responsible for more than 70% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions since 1988. The guys who run those companies – and they are mostly guys – have gotten rich on the backs of literally all life on Earth. Their business model relies on the destruction of the only home humanity has ever known. Meanwhile, we misdirect our outrage at our neighbors, friends, and family for using plastic straws or not recycling. If there is anyone who deserves the outrage of all 7.5 billion of us, it’s these 100 people right here.

What Happened After The Panama Papers?

April 30, 2019 By Amy Wilson-Chapman, Antonio Cucho and Will Fitzgibbon, Icij.org , , ,
The unprecedented investigation into the rogue offshore industry was published on April 3, 2016. Here’s what happened next. Within days of publication, protesters hit the streets, politicians resigned, police raided offices and prosecutors launched investigations.

You Pay Your Taxes. Corporations Should Too.

April 17, 2019 By Patti Lynn, Corporateaccountability.org ,
This tax season, Amazon filed for a $129 million refund. How much did you get back? Maybe you were one of the many people who got less in refunds then they expected—or actually had to pay taxes for the first time in many years. Or maybe not. But either way, as this tax season comes to a close, it’s clear that corporations and the ultra-wealthy were the ones that made out the best under the Trump administration’s 2017 tax cut. And that’s not surprising, given that they were the ones putting enormous pressure on our elected officials to pass it.
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