35 shocking facts that show that college education has become a giant money making scam
“#6 According to the Student Loan Debt Clock, total student loan debt in the United States will surpass the 1 trillion dollar mark in early 2012.
#24 Only 55.3% of Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 were employed last year. That was the lowest level that we have seen since World War II.
#28 In the United States today, 317,000 waiters and waitresses have college degrees.”
Most of this— whatever. But there are facts in here that are brutal, and the student debt/unemployment crisis sometimes really freaks me out. Our generation is really getting fucked.
Source: lessthanawake
Republicrats: The Party of, for and by the Corporations
I had considered this but everything stacks against it. Disclaimer: I am not a class action, corporate law expert, but the following is my informed (for what it is worth, I have a J.D.) opinion:
Most corporations will use any means available to limit liability (they can afford an entire floor dedicated to in-house legal). Furthermore, the laws where incorporated are usually what apply in state suits (with various exceptions). Most corporations incorporate in Delaware, where they have carved out for themselves a pro-business shelter. More than half a million business entities have their legal home in Delaware including more than 50% of all U.S. publicly-traded companies and 60% of the Fortune 500. It is a small state, with a small populace and much of its money comes from those very corporations, so it maintains very business-friendly legislation.
Of course, state class action cases are few and far between because the Class Action Fairness Act prevents certification of many classes and makes it easy for corporations to bring the suit to Federal Court, where corporations are heavily favored. In the 1990s, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a number of decisions which strengthened the “federal policy favoring arbitration”. In response, lawyers have added provisions to consumer contracts of adhesion called “collective action waivers”. In 1999 the National Arbitration Forum began advocating that such contracts should be drafted so as to force consumers to waive the right to a class action completely, and such provisions have become very popular among businesses. In the 2011 court case AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision that the Federal Arbitration Act of 1925 preempts state laws that prohibit contracts from disallowing class action lawsuits, which will make it more difficult for consumers to file class action lawsuits.
First and foremost, in order to bring any legal claim, you have to have standing. So for securities claims, you have to be part of the class of shareholders. As a consumer, you have to prove causal injury. To have standing as a class, you have to have commonality of issue (similar injury, similar redress sought). It is hard to find an attorney willing to take on the risk and time associated with bringing a class action suit of this caliber.
If you can prove standing, you next have to link a corporation’s involvement/actions to an actionable offense under the law. Good luck. The most affective strike would be against the head/heart, i.e. the holding companies. However, it is rarely the holding company with dirty hands. Corporate limited liability allows stockholders to create a protective veil, limiting personal liability. Furthermore, many corporations create subsidiaries that are legally separate, though controlled by, the holding company. That means that a corporation can, in practice, create “shell” subsidiaries to do their dirty work and then limit liability to those subsidiaries. Technically, activities like this should pierce the corporate veil, but corporations get away with this all the time. Stockholders are insolated from claims, subsidiaries are often created and sacrificed, and then on with business as usual. Unless we can prove a direct link to insidious actions from on high (i.e. a memo from the CEO or CFO or some other evidence linking the parent to some actionable offense or exposing the subsidiary as a shell (undercapitalized)) this is a difficult task to accomplish, especially when you are up against a powerful entity with money, lawyers and politicians lining their pockets.
Congress and conservative judges have made it really hard for consumers to bring class action suits against corporations. Even if, as an individual, you have standing to sue, getting a class certification is tough.
There are citizen suits permitted under many environmental laws. However, even then, we have to prove we have suffered an “injury in fact” - a violation of a legally protected interest which is (a) concrete and particularized and (b) “actual or imminent, not ‘conjectural’ or ‘hypothetical.’” We also have the burden to prove there is a causal connection between the injury and the conduct complained of - the injury has to be fairly traceable to the challenged action of the defendant, and not the result of the independent action of some third party. Lastly, we must show that it’s likely, as opposed to merely “speculative,” that the injury will be “redressed by a favorable decision.” This isn’t money into the hands of people, but usually the discontinuance of some harmful activity (i.e. an injunction rather than an award of damages). Furthermore, their lobbying efforts have chipped away at the laws that protect us from many of these egregious actions. Regulations have been lifted or now contain loopholes.
This is why people want Citizens United overturned. We need new legislation that will limit monopoly power, increase corporate liability/responsibility to allow people to continue to sue corporations for murder, human rights violations, fraud, etc., but to remove personhood status in terms of campaign donations, etc. Because corporations enjoy this status, they can buy politicians, thus enabling them to further influence beneficial legislation and appointments.
The system allows for this corruption. THAT is the problem. Until we make that illegal, corporations can continue to buy out our government. How do we make that illegal? Petition our government. Yes, that’s right, the same government that has been bought by corporations. The same government that ignores petitions, letters, and voter promises. So we petition in public spaces using our voices and our bodies. As we have already witnessed, we are silenced, beaten, and arrested.
So then…what next?
1. We must amend the Constitution - get Citizens United overturned. End corporate lobbying power. Get money out of congress. This is no small task. (http://www.usconstitution.net/constam.html#process) This has ALWAYS been done through Congress (the very group we are trying to limit money flow to…do you think they will be eager to promote this move)? Thus, we must either support Bernie Sanders’s amendment or the never before used option of convention of states.
2. Petition so long and so visibly on congress’ front lawn that the People’s will cannot continue to be ignored without also dropping the facade of serving the People. Congress will either bow to the People’s will, or they will cause a revolution.
3. Short of a revolution, on a long term basis, we must get incumbents out of house and senate. We must clean house. All House Reps are up for re-election every two years and 1/3 of senate every two years. If we cannot impeach, we must vote out. We need to pick outside candidates who do not have a history of getting into bed with moneybags.
4. Make it possible to have a legit multi-party race. Given the developing format of information dissemination, runners should not need to spend millions on campaigns. We should plan for televised debates, where the money goes equally to all nominees and each have the same amount of time to win us over. . We already do this with presidents. Now we just need more direct control over who gets nominated. It shouldn’t be whoever can afford the most ads.
Source: occupyonline
Corporation, n. An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility. ~ Ambrose Bierce
Source: chopzz
November 2011 Report on Negative Tax Liability for Corporations
A comprehensive new study that profiles 280 of America’s most profitable companies finds that 78 of them paid no federal income tax in at least one of the last three years. Thirty companies enjoyed a negative income tax rate over the three year period, despite combined pre-tax profits of $160 billion. These are among the findings in “Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010,” released by Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.
“These 280 corporations received a total of nearly $223 billion in tax subsidies,” said Robert McIntyre, Director at Citizens for Tax Justice and the report’s lead author. “This is wasted money that could have gone to protect Medicare, create jobs and cut the deficit.”
Corporations are lobbying for lower corporate rates and an exemption for profits they shift offshore. McIntyre, however, says “Our study provides proof that too many corporations are already being coddled by our tax system.”
Findings in the report include:
• The average effective tax rate for all 280 companies in the study over the three year period was 18.5 percent; for the period 2009-2010 it was 17.3 percent, less than half the statutory rate of 35 percent.
• 78 of the companies enjoyed at least one year in which their federal income tax was zero or less.
• 30 companies enjoyed a negative income tax rate over the entire three year period on their combined pre-tax profits of $160 billion.
• Total tax subsidies given to all 280 profitable corporations amounted to $222.7 billion from 2008-2010.
• Wells Fargo tops the list of 280 U.S. corporations receiving the most in tax subsidies, getting nearly $18 billion in tax breaks from the U.S. treasury in the last three ears.
• Pepco Holdings had the lowest effective tax rate of all the companies in the study, at negative 57.6 percent over the three year period. Some companies within sectors fare worse than others. For example, the report finds that FedEx paid a 0.9 percent tax rate over the three year period while its competitor, UPS, paid a 24.1 percent rate.
• While retailers and wholesalers in the study generally pay average effective tax rates of about 30 percent, Amazon.com paid a rate of only 7.9 percent on its $1.8 billion in profits from 2008-2010.
• Financial services received the largest share (16.8 percent) of all federal tax subsidies over the last three years. More than half of federal corporate tax subsidies for companies in the study went to four industries: financial services, utilities, telecommunications, and oil, gas & pipelines.
• The top ten defense contractors saw their combined tax rate decline from 19.3 percent in 2008 to a mere 10.6 percent rate in 2010.
• U.S. corporations with significant (ten percent or more of their total worldwide profits) foreign profits paid tax rates to foreign countries that were almost a third higher than they paid to the IRS on their domestic profits.
Source: ctj.org
LOS ANGELES POISED TO BE THE FIRST MAJOR U.S. CITY TO CALL FOR END TO CORPORATE PERSONHOOD
LOS ANGELES, CA – Next week the Los Angeles City Council will vote on a resolution that calls on Congress to amend the Constitution to clearly establish that only living persons — not corporations — are endowed with constitutional rights and that money is not the same as free speech. If this resolution is passed, Los Angeles will be the first major city in the U.S. to call for an end to all corporate constitutional rights.
The campaign in Los Angeles is the latest grassroots effort by Move to Amend, a national coalition working to abolish corporate personhood. “Local resolution campaigns are an opportunity for citizens to speak up and let it be known that we won’t accept the corporate takeover of our government lying down,” said Kaitlin Sopoci-Belknap, a national spokesperson for Move to Amend. “We urge communities across the country to join the Move to Amend campaign and raise your voices.”
Source: pieceinthepuzzlehumanity
‘nough said
And why were our forefathers concerned about separation of church and state? Because back then one of the largest non-governmental threats for abuse of power were religious corporations called churches.
Source: thingsyouknownow
“Occupy Best Buy” Themed Black Friday Campaign
Oh helllll no. I used to work there. It’s a damn cult. They made a guy blatantly committing fraud the employee of the month five times and had the audacity to tell everyone to follow his “methods” even after I repeatedly complained about the illegality of his actions. They made us come in at 6am on Sundays for a “synergy” meeting whereupon we were lectured for NOT getting as many sales as the fraudster. We were all punished and made to wear white shirts like new hires for not selling enough sports illustrated magazines at the register and given balloons when we sold a magazine (wtf?). I was a cashier and my manager’s biggest concern was whether we sold magazine subscriptions to customers?? Never once were we trained on customer service (because that was not what mattered).
Don’t get me started on the rampant sexism and racism. I came to my interview for a geek squad/computer department position with ample computer experience. The girl I first interviewed with thought I was perfect for an opening they had. I was handed off to her male manager, who did not interview me. Instead he told me that I seemed more suited to a cashier position. I had never used a register in my life and I’m an introverted geek…really now. They gave the position I interviewed for to a 16 year old boy with half my computer knowledge. It was the most backwards, creepy, condescending, discriminatory company I have ever worked for.
It is beyond maddening to see anyone attempting to capitalize on the occupy movement to make profit and hypocritically encouraging people to camp for days in the cold, creating a bottle neck safety hazard when they open the doors…I beg everyone to resist the temptation of deals and boycott Black Friday. If nothing else, as pity for the poor minimum wage employees who have to work that day. I will tell you - it is hell on earth being an employee at Best Buy on Black Friday. Time and a half ($12) does not cut it. People passed out, were assaulted and harassed. It was disgusting and the epitome of everything that is ill in our country. And we must, as the 99%, recognize our own responsibility and power to resist these traps.
(via thedorseyshawexperience)
Source: BuzzFeed
How 'Occupy Portland' Made History This Week
No question, there have been problems within the occupation itself. But the Portlanders conducted themselves with enough non-violent discipline to leave a lot of the moral burden on the city government and police.
They also discredited detractors such as New York Times columnist David Brooks, whom far too many people were watching on the News Hour after Occupy Portland’s Jim Oliver announced the festival.
When Brooks’ counterpart, Mark Shields, credited OWS with convincing Americans “to reduce the power of major banks and corporations — 76 percent of Americans, Wall Street Journal poll, agree with that; 60 percent strongly agree with that” — Brooks retorted, “That’s exactly what the Tea Party movement has been saying,” and slid past the fact that the Tea Party had been blaming mostly government until OWS reminded it that the Tea Party of 1773 took on a multinational corporation, the East India Company, as well as its cronies in government.
Brooks was intent on making a much-more insidious observation on the eve of Portland’s showdown. The problem with the current protest movements, he explained, “is they have no leaders. They have no institutions… nobody to be serious and be rigorous and say, ‘Here are the problems we all agree on. Here is what we are offering.’ And if you have no leaders, … you’re going to be defined by your worst [people], who are going to be the most disruptive. And that’s, I think, what has happened to the Occupy movement.”
Actually, that’s what’s happened to America, and OWS is a response to that sad truth. A lot depends on what makes your nose wrinkle and your nostrils twitch. News Hour host Jim Lehrer didn’t ask Brooks to explain why, if he’s so worried about a dearth of good leaders, clear agendas, and sound decisions in protest movements, he isn’t more worried about the dearth of good leaders, clear agendas, and sound decisions in Washington and on Wall Street, whose incompetence and bad faith yawned abysmally before us all in the near-meltdown of 2008 and the idiotic debt-ceiling crisis last summer.
And if it’s the occupiers’ unsanitary and unstable conduct that worries Brooks and Portland’s mayor, might we compare conditions in the parks with the sanitation, sanity, and law-abidingness in Congress, the major investment banks, and the New York Police Department? How do the hazards posed by the occupations compare with those posed by members of Congress’ sexual hijinks, their stealing, and their bought-and-paid for evisceration of public investments in health care, unemployment security, and other protections against disease and stress? What’s Portland cops’ own record of fighting crime and violence within their own ranks? Let’s hope it’s better than Oakland’s (or, when it comes to crime, New York’s).
No one ever asks such questions in Washington. No one ever wonders aloud whether political and business leaders — the public officials, policy intellectuals, investment advisers, corporate managers, and others who’ve misled millions of people into sink-pits of casino finance, joblessness, homelessness, and fogs of war — are clearer-sighted than occupation youths who aren’t yet drawn into their subtler corruptions, marginal souls who’ve never been integrated into them, and elders who’ve seen through those corruptions after decades of enduring them.
Why The Food Movement Should Occupy Wall St
I’m glad somebody wrote this article. When I was at Occupy Wall St, I didn’t see many folks talking about food AT ALL. My sign read “Corporate America: Get Your Grubby Hands Off My Food”, and I felt like a total loner.
People who are into food sovereignty and justice and animal rights… please go Occupy and talk about food. I feel like people are talking about money too much at these events. To me, food problems are even deeper than money problems. Because, you know, why do we even have money in the first place? So we can buy food and stay alive. Let’s scream about how this is the core flaw of our society, about how it’s what keeps people in prison their entire lives and prevents us from knowing true freedom. Let’s shout about food independence, about the right to a healthy diet, about stopping pesticide use and genetically modified crops, and ending factory farming.
(via occupyphilly)
Source: whateveryoneismadeof
liberalsarecool:
(via thecamprobber)
Source: liberalsarecool