Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?

[GreatestIam]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

 

[Mikeoxenormous]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Yes the liberal 1%ers use the governments to enhance their wealth all the time. Obama gave Solyndra 1/2 billion dollars and the CEOs got wealthy even though the company went bankrupt. Obama allowed the QE process, where trillions of dollars were created(so interest rates would be zero(0)) and the liberals of Apple took out a 5 billion dollar loan so they could buy back their stock and increase its value. How about Obama's cap and tax plan that stole taxes from the middle class and poor so those 1%ers could get rich with the Carbon Credit Exchange. The establishment is the TRUE enemy of the people and needs to be drained with the rest of the swamp. But, and there is always a but, liberals are too stupid to NOT vote out the very people who keep making the RICH, richer and the POOR, impoverished.

 

[GreatestIam]

[
Yes the liberal

How pathetic.

I guess you missed this link that shows that all politicians are dirty.

20 years of data reveals that Congress doesn't care what you think.

To blind to see past your own right wing bubble and the huge tax break for the rich Trump is trying to push through.

Regards
DL

 

[bripat9643]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Why shouldn't they retain their wealth? Do you believe the mob should be allowed to loot them?

 

[GreatestIam]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Why shouldn't they retain their wealth? Do you believe the mob should be allowed to loot them?

Following those links and educating yourself would have been a good starting position for you to understand the fact that you are a slave to an oligarch.

To your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

Regards
DL

 

[Bootney Lee Farnsworth]

Yes. People in power use their power to make themselves more powerful.

IT seems that some Americans still want to give government even more power at their own expense.

We need full-auto weapons to keep these 1%ers from fucking us over.

 

[bripat9643]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

Why shouldn't they retain their wealth? Do you believe the mob should be allowed to loot them?

Following those links and educating yourself would have been a good starting position for you to understand the fact that you are a slave to an oligarch.

To your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

Regards
DL

"All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people."

Who did Henry Ford take advantage of? Steve Jobs? Jeff Bezos?

 

[TheOldSchool]

Yes the liberal 1%ers use the governments to enhance their wealth all the time.

Hey, it'll just trickle down.

 

[Aldo Raine]

Yes the liberal 1%ers use the governments to enhance their wealth all the time.

Hey, it'll just trickle down.

Ya, um no, no it never does.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

o your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

 

[frigidweirdo]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

More or less. There are ways of changing this, but it would require the people to stand up for what they believe in. But when the people stand up for what the rich believe in, you know you've lost, and when people do stand up for what they believe in and they get shouted down, you know it's even worse.

 

[frigidweirdo]

o your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

Imagine you have a transmission problem. There are two transmissions shops. You can bring it to my shop, I pay full taxes and it'll cost you $500 to fix. But Big Fuckios down the road, they're a multinational shop and they'll charge you $350 to fix the transmission. They can do this because they don't pay much tax at all.

Which one are you going to go to? Is this a fair thing to happen in society?

 

[fncceo]

from taking advantage of people.

I have never taken advantage of people for profit ... mostly I just do it for fun.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

o your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

Imagine you have a transmission problem. There are two transmissions shops. You can bring it to my shop, I pay full taxes and it'll cost you $500 to fix. But Big Fuckios down the road, they're a multinational shop and they'll charge you $350 to fix the transmission. They can do this because they don't pay much tax at all.

Which one are you going to go to? Is this a fair thing to happen in society?

I have absolutely no idea what your comparison is. Wages are not set by national vs multinational companies, wages are set on the ability for an employer to hire a worker for the lowest offer they can.

As for taxes, multinational companies pay the same as national companies. Multinational companies don't pay American taxes on money they made outside of the US provided they don't bring any of that money back to the states. It's a problem that Trump has highlighted since he took office.

 

[frigidweirdo]

o your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

Imagine you have a transmission problem. There are two transmissions shops. You can bring it to my shop, I pay full taxes and it'll cost you $500 to fix. But Big Fuckios down the road, they're a multinational shop and they'll charge you $350 to fix the transmission. They can do this because they don't pay much tax at all.

Which one are you going to go to? Is this a fair thing to happen in society?

I have absolutely no idea what your comparison is. Wages are not set by national vs multinational companies, wages are set on the ability for an employer to hire a worker for the lowest offer they can.

As for taxes, multinational companies pay the same as national companies. Multinational companies don't pay American taxes on money they made outside of the US provided they don't bring any of that money back to the states. It's a problem that Trump has highlighted since he took office.

Why are you talking about wages?

No, multi-nationals do NOT pay the same amount of tax as other companies.

They get massive tax breaks.

How Multinational Corporations Dodge Taxes

"General Electric, for example, won't owe any U.S. taxes for 2009, but will instead receive more than $1 billion dollars of tax benefits."

Yeah, they're paying the same amount of money as everyone else, by being GIVEN $1 billion dollars. Yeah, that's the same as everyone else Ray.

Why do you hide from the truth?

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

o your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

Imagine you have a transmission problem. There are two transmissions shops. You can bring it to my shop, I pay full taxes and it'll cost you $500 to fix. But Big Fuckios down the road, they're a multinational shop and they'll charge you $350 to fix the transmission. They can do this because they don't pay much tax at all.

Which one are you going to go to? Is this a fair thing to happen in society?

I have absolutely no idea what your comparison is. Wages are not set by national vs multinational companies, wages are set on the ability for an employer to hire a worker for the lowest offer they can.

As for taxes, multinational companies pay the same as national companies. Multinational companies don't pay American taxes on money they made outside of the US provided they don't bring any of that money back to the states. It's a problem that Trump has highlighted since he took office.

Why are you talking about wages?

No, multi-nationals do NOT pay the same amount of tax as other companies.

They get massive tax breaks.

How Multinational Corporations Dodge Taxes

"General Electric, for example, won't owe any U.S. taxes for 2009, but will instead receive more than $1 billion dollars of tax benefits."

Yeah, they're paying the same amount of money as everyone else, by being GIVEN $1 billion dollars. Yeah, that's the same as everyone else Ray.

Why do you hide from the truth?

The truth is in the pudding. From your link that supports my point:

But the basic reason GE has been able to keep its tax bill so low is that it structures its business so that it takes a loss in the U.S. and earns its profits elsewhere. By moving ownership of profitable assets to overseas subsidiaries while incurring expenses in the U.S. companies can avoid being taxed here where tax rates are relatively high.

If you don't understand this, I'll reiterate: Multinational companies that produce profit in the US get taxed the same as US companies that produce a profit. If a multinational company produces profit elsewhere, while taking losses in the US, that's how companies like GE (and others) pay no taxes in the US.

Or do you think that multinational companies that make profit in Singapore should pay taxes here? If so, that would only lead to multinational companies closing down their outlets in the US to avoid taxation.

 

[Darkwind]

Are governments just protection rackets for the 1%?


Our political systems, regardless of who is elected or in power, have become tools of our oligarchs and are designed to insure that they retain their wealth. We are in fact and in reality ruled by our various oligarchs.


Do you recognize that fact?


Regards

DL


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QzQYA9Qjsi0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-rpkZe2OEo

http://www.upworthy.com/9-out-of-10-americans-are-completely-wrong-about-this-mind-blowing-fact-2

http://www.upworthy.com/20-years-of-data-reveals-that-congress-doesnt-care-what-you-think?c=upw1&u=94acbbeb6bbd6d664157009a896e71b014efbf27

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJy8vTu66tE&feature=em-subs_digest-vrecs

I agree.

We should do away with as much government as we can. Reduce it to its absolute basic form and make it stay within the boundaries of the Constitution.

 

[frigidweirdo]

o your reply.

All great wealth come from taking advantage of the work force and the market. IOW, from taking advantage of people.

It is not a matter of redistribution from above to below. It is more of a matter of the filthy rich looking to the poor and paying their fair share.

There is a graph in the O.P. If you cannot see how it shows how immoral the socio economic demographic pyramid is, then you do not know how to read one.

Go back and educate yourself, please.

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

Imagine you have a transmission problem. There are two transmissions shops. You can bring it to my shop, I pay full taxes and it'll cost you $500 to fix. But Big Fuckios down the road, they're a multinational shop and they'll charge you $350 to fix the transmission. They can do this because they don't pay much tax at all.

Which one are you going to go to? Is this a fair thing to happen in society?

I have absolutely no idea what your comparison is. Wages are not set by national vs multinational companies, wages are set on the ability for an employer to hire a worker for the lowest offer they can.

As for taxes, multinational companies pay the same as national companies. Multinational companies don't pay American taxes on money they made outside of the US provided they don't bring any of that money back to the states. It's a problem that Trump has highlighted since he took office.

Why are you talking about wages?

No, multi-nationals do NOT pay the same amount of tax as other companies.

They get massive tax breaks.

How Multinational Corporations Dodge Taxes

"General Electric, for example, won't owe any U.S. taxes for 2009, but will instead receive more than $1 billion dollars of tax benefits."

Yeah, they're paying the same amount of money as everyone else, by being GIVEN $1 billion dollars. Yeah, that's the same as everyone else Ray.

Why do you hide from the truth?

The truth is in the pudding. From your link that supports my point:

But the basic reason GE has been able to keep its tax bill so low is that it structures its business so that it takes a loss in the U.S. and earns its profits elsewhere. By moving ownership of profitable assets to overseas subsidiaries while incurring expenses in the U.S. companies can avoid being taxed here where tax rates are relatively high.

If you don't understand this, I'll reiterate: Multinational companies that produce profit in the US get taxed the same as US companies that produce a profit. If a multinational company produces profit elsewhere, while taking losses in the US, that's how companies like GE (and others) pay no taxes in the US.

Or do you think that multinational companies that make profit in Singapore should pay taxes here? If so, that would only lead to multinational companies closing down their outlets in the US to avoid taxation.

Yes, in other words they have accountants who make sure that they're screwing the US over, the US system allows them to essentially not pay taxes.

I understand this Ray. This is called cheating the system.

You said that every company pays the same amount of money in tax. They DON'T and you've just proven this. Thank you.

You seem to be under the impression Ray, that this is a company that does business in the US and does business abroad, and pays its taxes abroad and pays its taxes at home as it should. But it doesn't.

Even if the company didn't do a single thing in the US, their tax would not be MINUS $1 billion, now would it?

So, why are they paying NO TAX and being give $1 billion of US taxpayers money, when they actually do work in the USA?

Well these are the questions you don't want to ask, because you're happy, for some unknown reason, with rich multi nationals paying no tax.

You will slide and slither your way through. First they pay the same as everyone else, second they don't but they're paying taxes elsewhere. What next Ray?

Warren: GE Pays No Taxes - FactCheck.org

"According to the New York Times story, GE reported U.S. profits of $5.1 billion in 2010"

This is the year after what we're talking about. They made $5.1 billion a year, and they're paying MINUS $1 billion, and you're argument is that they don't need to pay tax in the US because... because... they're earning money in Singafuckingpore.

Hmmm....

 

[BulletProof]

Government isn't a protection racket for the rick. But, government is the tool of the rich to perpetuate their wealth. All of America's "problems" are easy to solve, but solving them isn't in the interest of the rich. Take illegal immigration. Immigrants depress wages of the working natives, while natives are forced to subsidize the immigrants (free schooling, etc.).

When soldiers go to war, the soldiers on both sides are just pawns for the rich. Soldiers on both sides think they're fighting for the side of truth, justice, and freedom.

 

[Ray From Cleveland]

So I have a transmission problem. I bring it to your transmission shop and pay you fairly for the repair. How did I take advantage of you?

If I decide to buy a car, buy a house, hire a lawn care company, nobody is taking advantage of anybody else because all parties were in agreement.

So if I apply for a job, and the job pays X amount of money and benefits, the employer is not taking advantage of me by me accepting his offer; provided he or she lives up to their end of the agreement.

All great wealth does not happen by taking advantage of anybody. Great wealth is produced by manufacturing a product or service for a profit. That's it.

Imagine you have a transmission problem. There are two transmissions shops. You can bring it to my shop, I pay full taxes and it'll cost you $500 to fix. But Big Fuckios down the road, they're a multinational shop and they'll charge you $350 to fix the transmission. They can do this because they don't pay much tax at all.

Which one are you going to go to? Is this a fair thing to happen in society?

I have absolutely no idea what your comparison is. Wages are not set by national vs multinational companies, wages are set on the ability for an employer to hire a worker for the lowest offer they can.

As for taxes, multinational companies pay the same as national companies. Multinational companies don't pay American taxes on money they made outside of the US provided they don't bring any of that money back to the states. It's a problem that Trump has highlighted since he took office.

Why are you talking about wages?

No, multi-nationals do NOT pay the same amount of tax as other companies.

They get massive tax breaks.

How Multinational Corporations Dodge Taxes

"General Electric, for example, won't owe any U.S. taxes for 2009, but will instead receive more than $1 billion dollars of tax benefits."

Yeah, they're paying the same amount of money as everyone else, by being GIVEN $1 billion dollars. Yeah, that's the same as everyone else Ray.

Why do you hide from the truth?

The truth is in the pudding. From your link that supports my point:

But the basic reason GE has been able to keep its tax bill so low is that it structures its business so that it takes a loss in the U.S. and earns its profits elsewhere. By moving ownership of profitable assets to overseas subsidiaries while incurring expenses in the U.S. companies can avoid being taxed here where tax rates are relatively high.

If you don't understand this, I'll reiterate: Multinational companies that produce profit in the US get taxed the same as US companies that produce a profit. If a multinational company produces profit elsewhere, while taking losses in the US, that's how companies like GE (and others) pay no taxes in the US.

Or do you think that multinational companies that make profit in Singapore should pay taxes here? If so, that would only lead to multinational companies closing down their outlets in the US to avoid taxation.

Yes, in other words they have accountants who make sure that they're screwing the US over, the US system allows them to essentially not pay taxes.

I understand this Ray. This is called cheating the system.

You said that every company pays the same amount of money in tax. They DON'T and you've just proven this. Thank you.

You seem to be under the impression Ray, that this is a company that does business in the US and does business abroad, and pays its taxes abroad and pays its taxes at home as it should. But it doesn't.

Even if the company didn't do a single thing in the US, their tax would not be MINUS $1 billion, now would it?

So, why are they paying NO TAX and being give $1 billion of US taxpayers money, when they actually do work in the USA?

Well these are the questions you don't want to ask, because you're happy, for some unknown reason, with rich multi nationals paying no tax.

You will slide and slither your way through. First they pay the same as everyone else, second they don't but they're paying taxes elsewhere. What next Ray?

Warren: GE Pays No Taxes - FactCheck.org

"According to the New York Times story, GE reported U.S. profits of $5.1 billion in 2010"

This is the year after what we're talking about. They made $5.1 billion a year, and they're paying MINUS $1 billion, and you're argument is that they don't need to pay tax in the US because... because... they're earning money in Singafuckingpore.

Hmmm....

And that is absolutely correct.

It doesn't matter what the company earns or doesn't earn when it comes to taxes. It's what the company earns in the US.

If GE made 5 billion in Australia or Vietnam, but showed a loss here, they get to write off their US losses and yes, perhaps even get a refund from the government. They don't pay taxes on their gross earnings made elsewhere.

As your article points out, the reason companies move assets around is because we have the highest corporate taxes in the world. So they manipulate their structure to accommodate our tax structure.

Think of it like the John Kerry story years ago when he docked his yacht in a state with lower taxes. He used the system to cheat the US and state governments out of their "fair share." So it's not like this is a partisan issue.

The solution is to lower corporate taxes so companies like GE have no advantage of producing profits elsewhere. And along with that, the Mitt Romney strategy which is to greatly reduce taxation for companies that do make money overseas, but wish to bring that cash back to the US.