Citizens for Tax Justice provides yet more evidence that corporate taxes aren't "too high" -- after all, if they were, the 288 "consistently profitable" members of the Fortune 500 wouldn't be paying an average tax rate almost 16 percentage points lower than the 35% rate, nor would almost a tenth of them have a net zero tax rate over the last five years. And the 125 multinational corporations in the sample actually pay, on average, 12% more in taxes to foreign lands than they do to our government. I guess the right-wing answer to all that would be BENGHAZI!!!!!!
Senate Republicans filibuster a $24 billion health care expansion for veterans out of alleged budgetary concerns. Because they're the pro-soldier party, after all! Seriously, if you could lay all of the non-controversial bills the Republican filibustered since 2007 end-to-end in a 30-second TV ad, they would all lose their re-election bids. If I still find Republicans in Congress next year, I'll assume it was because Democrats were too lazy or cowardly to put that ad together.
Speaking of the "pro-solider" party, Tha Dicksta said last week that Mr. Obama's proposed defense cuts prove he "would much rather spend the money on food stamps than he would on a strong military or support for our troops." Well, guess what? As Secretary of Defense under Bush the Better, Mr. Cheney himself authorized similarly deep cuts in military spending and troop numbers. He'll say this is different, because the Cold War was ending then and this "war on terror" is so much different because it's, you know, ongoing and you can never know when you'll need to trump up some intelligence so you can invade the wrong country again. All right, he wouldn't actually say that last part, but you get the point.
L.A. Times business writer asks "Are Unions Necessary?" And, gratifyingly, begins with "Short answer: yes." Mr. Hiltzik's somewhat longer answer: "One simply can't explain the decline of union representation without acknowledging the role of employer opposition and its empowerment by government policy" -- which sometimes includes empowerment by law, but not always, since individual governments enforce the law to varying degrees of effectiveness. Read the whole thing, though -- particularly the takedown of the UNIONZ DON'T HELP TEH NON-UNIONIZEDD PEOPLEZ HAHAHA ZING! meme.
Finally, a vehement opponent of Medicaid expansion in Arkansas state legislature has fed at the big gummint trough to the tune of over $1 million from Medicare and Medicaid. During his early 20s he broke his neck in a serious drunk-driving accident (whether he or his friend was driving, he "can't remember"), and having no health insurance at the time, he needed (and still needs) help from our government. His list of excuses for opposing the expansion makes him look like someone who simply forgot all of that happened -- which is, no doubt, his wish for you. Too late now.
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