Sunday, April 10, 2016
Gateway to
Sources and Information About Income Inequality in the United States
Millions
of Americans are working longer hours for lower wages, and yet almost all of
the new income and wealth being created is going to the top one percent. While
the top one percent have seen their incomes rise 18 percent over the past
decade, those in the middle have actually seen their incomes fall.
“35 soul-crushing facts about
American income inequality,”
Posted on salon, JULy 15, 2015, at 01:15 P.M. (EDT)
Larry Schwartz, Alternet
“The money given
out in Wall Street bonuses last year was twice the amount all minimum-wage
workers earned combined.”
This article originally appeared on www.alternet.
“While Hillary Clinton occasionally gives some lip service to the problem of extreme inequality,
[Senator] Bernie Sanders is the only candidate really hammering away at it. He has even
blasted the orthodoxy of economic growth for its own sake, saying according
to Monday’s [July 13, 2015] Washington
Post that unless economic spoils can be redistributed to make
more Americans’ lives better, all the growth will go to the top 1% anyway, so
who needs it? Sanders might know his history, but the rest of the
candidates could use a little primer.
“The United States was not always the most powerful nation on
Earth. It was only with the end of World War II, with the rest of the developed
world in smoldering ruins, that America emerged as the free world’s leader.
This coincided with the expansion of the U.S. middle
class. With the other war combatants
trying to recover from the destruction of the war, America became the
supermarket, hardware store and auto dealership to the world. Markets for
American products abounded and opportunity was everywhere for American workers
of all economic means to get ahead. America had a virtual monopoly on
rebuilding the world. Combined with the G.I. Bill of
1944, which provided money for
returning veterans to go to college, and government loans to buy houses and
start businesses, the middle class in America boomed, as did American power,
wealth and prestige. Between 1946 and
1973, productivity in
America grew by 104 percent. Unions led the way in assuring wages for workers grew by an equal
amount.
“The 1970s, however, brought a screeching halt to the expansion of the
American middle class. The Arab oil embargo in 1973 marked the end of cheap oil and the beginning of the middle-class decline. The Iranian Revolution in 1979, with more resultant oil
instability, combined with the rise of Ronald
Reagan’s conservative revolution at home,
accelerated the long and painful contraction
of the middle class. Cuts in corporate taxes, stagnant worker wage growth, the
right-wing war on unions, and corporate outsourcing
of work overseas greased the wheels of the middle-class decline and the
upper-class elevation. Cuts in taxes on the wealthy, under the guise of
trickle-down economics, have resulted in lower government revenue and cuts to
all kinds of services. All of which has led to today, an era of national and
international inequality unparalleled since the days of the Roaring ’20s.
Here are 35 astounding facts about inequality that
will fry your brain.
1. In 81 percent of American counties, the median income, about $52,000, is less than it
was 15 years ago.
This is despite the fact that the economy has
grown 83 percent in the past quarter-century and corporate profits have doubled.
American workers produce twice the amount of goods and services as 25 years
ago, but get less of the pie.
2. The amount of money that was given out in bonuses on Wall Street last year
is twice the amount all minimum-wage workers earned
in the country combined.
3. The wealthiest 85 people on
the planet have more money that the poorest 3.5
billion people combined.
4. The average wealth of an American adult is in the range of
$250,000-$300,000. But that average number includes incomprehensibly wealthy
people like Bill Gates. Imagine 10 people in a bar. When Bill Gates walks in,
the average wealth in the bar increases unbelievably, but that number doesn’t
make the other 10 people in the bar richer. The median per adult number is only
about $39,000, placing the U.S. about 27th among
the world’s nations, behind Australia, most of Europe and even small countries
like New Zealand, Ireland and Kuwait.
5. Italians, Belgians and Japanese citizens are wealthier than
Americans.
6. The poorest half of the Earth’s population owns 1% of the Earth’s wealth. The
richest 1% of the Earth’s population owns 46% of
the Earth’s wealth.
7. More locally, the poorest half
of the US owns 2.5% of the country’s wealth.
The top 1% owns 35% of
it.
8. Inequality is a worldwide problem. In the UK,
doctors no longer occupy a place in the top 1% of income earners, London plays
host to the largest congregation of Russian millionaires outside of Moscow, and
also houses more ultra-rich people (defined as owning more than $30 million in
assets outside of their home) than anywhere else on Earth.
9. The slice of the national income pie going to the wealthiest 1% of Americans
has doubled since
1979.
10. The 1% also takes home 20% of the income.
This figure is the most since the 1920s era of laissez faire government (under Republicans Warren
Harding, Calvin Coolidge and Herbert Hoover).
11. The super rich .01% of America, such as Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan, take home a whopping 6% of the national income, earning around
$23 million a year. Compare that to the average $30,000
a year earned by the bottom 90 percent of
America.
12. The top 1% of
America owns 50% of investment assets (stocks, bonds, mutual funds). The poorest half of America owns
just .5% of the investments.
13. The poorest Americans do come out ahead in one statistic: the bottom 90% of
America owns 73% of the debt.
14. Tax rates for
the middle class have remained essentially unchanged
since 1960. Tax rates on the highest earning Americans have plunged from an almost 70% tax rate
in 1945 down to around 35% today. Corporate tax rates have dropped from 30
percent in the 1950s to under 10 percent today.
15. Since 1990, CEO compensation has
increased by 300%. Corporate profits have doubled. The average worker’s
salary has increased 4%. Adjusted for inflation, the
minimum wage has actually decreased.
16. CEOs in 1965 earned about 24 times the amount of
the average worker. In 1980 they earned 42 times as
much. Today, CEOs earn 325 times the average worker.
18. In a study of 34 developed countries, the United States had the second highest level of income inequality, ahead of only Chile.
19. Young people in the U.S. are getting
poorer. The median wealth of
people under 35 has dropped 68% since 1984. The median wealth of older
Americans has increased 42%.
20. The average white American’s median
wealth is 20 times higher ($113,000) than the average African American ($5,600) and 18 times the Hispanic American ($6,300).
21. America’s highest
incomeinequality is
located in the states surrounding Wall Street (New
York City) and the oil-rich states.
22. Since 1979, high school
dropouts have seen median weekly
income drop by 22 percent. Ethnically,
the highest dropout rates are among Hispanic and African American children.
23. In 1970, a woman earned about 60% of the amount a man
earned. In 2005 a woman earned about 80% of
what a man earned. Since 2005, there has been
no change in that figure. African-American women earn just 64% of
what a white male earns, and Hispanic women just 56%.
24. Over 20 percent of all American
children live below the poverty line. This rate is
higher than almost all other developed countries.
25. Union membership in the US is at an all-time low,
about 11% of the workforce. In 1978, 40 percent of blue-collar workers were
unionized. With that declining influence has come a concurrent decline in the
real value of the minimum wage.
26. Four hundred Americans have more wealth, $2 trillion, than half of all Americans combined.
That is approximately the GDP of Russia.
27. In 1946, a child born into poverty had about a 50 percent chance of scaling the income ladder into
the middle class. In 1980, the chances were 40 percent. A child born today has about a 33 percent chance.
28. Despite massive tax cuts, corporations have not created new jobs in
America. The job creators have been small new businesses that have not enjoyed
the same huge tax breaks.
29. More than half of the members of the United States Congress, where laws are passed deciding how millionaires are taxed,
are millionaires.
30. Twenty five of the largest corporations in
America in 2010 paid their CEOs more money than they paid in taxes that year.
31. In the first decade of the 21st
century, the U.S. borrowed $1 trillion in order to give tax cuts to households earning over $250,000.
32. In 1970, there were five registered lobbyists working
on behalf of wealthy corporations for every one of the 535 members of Congress.
Today there are 22 lobbyists per congressperson.
33. In 1962, the 1% household median wealth was 125 times the
average median wealth. In 2010 the divide was 288
times.
34. During the Great
Recession, the average wealth of the 1% dropped about 16
percent. Meanwhile the wealth of
the 99% dropped 47 percent.
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
FRANCE
24 with AFP, REUTERS
Date created: April 3, 2016
Panama papers: Major leak exposes elite’s
tax havens
“A massive leak of 11.5 million tax documents has revealed how the world’s rich and powerful use the offshore industry
to hide money and skirt national
regulations.
“The so-called Panama Papers expose the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and provide details of secret financial dealings of more than 120 politicians and celebrities, according to the [International Consortium
of Investigative Journalists] ICIJ. The documents also reveal how businessmen used offshore networks to help criminal organisations thrive and allow repressive regimes to
stifle opponents.
“The files allegedly expose offshore companies controlled
by the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, and the king of Saudi Arabia.
“They have also linked associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the family of Chinese President Xi Jinping to offshore accounts.
“Celebrities already under scrutiny for questionable
financial dealings, including football star Lionel Messi and disgraced UEFA
chief Michel Platini, are also named in the report.
“The vast stash of records was obtained
from an anonymous source by German daily
Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with dozens of media outlets
worldwide, including the Guardian, the BBC and French daily Le Monde.
”The Panama Papers is described by the ICIJ as ‘one of the biggest leaks and largest collaborative investigations in journalism history,’ bigger even than the Wikileaks' exploits of 2010 – which included the release of 500,000 secret military files on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and 250,000 US diplomatic cables.
" ‘I think the leak will prove to be probably the
biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the
documents,’ said ICIJ director Gerard Ryle.
“The documents, from around 214,000 offshore entities
covering almost 40 years, came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm
with offices in more than 35 countries.
“The head of the law firm, Ramon Fonseca, denied any
wrongdoing, claiming his firm has fallen victim to “an international campaign against privacy”.
“The group, which specialises in setting up offshore
companies, had suffered a successful but “limited” hack, Fonseca told Reuters by telephone.
“Fonseca, who was also until March a senior government
official in Panama, said his firm has formed more than 240,000 companies,
adding that the ‘vast majority’ have been used for ‘legitimate purposes.’
“He emphasised that the firm is not responsible for the
activities of the companies it incorporates. ‘We’re dedicated to making legal structures which we sell to
intermediaries such as banks, lawyers, accountants and trusts, and they have
their end-customers that we don’t know,’ he said.
“The British Virgin Islands and Panama itself were the
two most popular tax havens for the 210,000 companies that appear in the Panama
Papers.
“Though most of the alleged dealings are said by the ICIJ
to be legal, they are likely to have a serious political impact on many of
those named.
“Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson is
expected to face a no-confidence vote this week over allegations he used a
secret offshore firm called Wintris Inc. to hide millions of dollars in the
British Virgin Islands.
“The files show he secretly owned millions of dollars of
investment in his country's banks during the financial crisis through an
offshore company.
" ‘I have never hidden assets,’ Gunnlaugsson told a
journalist from the Swedish SVT channel.
“Gunnlaugsson later told privately held Icelandic
television Channel 2 that he did not plan to resign, despite opposition calls
to do so. [Gunnlaugsson resigned
“ ‘The
government has had good results. Progress has been strong and it is important
that the government can finish their work,’ he said. ‘I will listen to the
peoples’ stand in the next elections.’
“The Kremlin, meanwhile, has reacted with
anger to the allegations against Putin contained in
the documents, saying they are an attempt to destabilise the country.
" ‘Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the
upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilise the
situation,’ Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who himself figures in the leaked
documents, told journalists in Moscow.
“The leaked documents show that banks, companies and
close associates to Putin ‘secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion (1.75
billion euros) through banks and shadow companies,’ according to the ICIJ.
“The allegations were not aired by Russian state TV.
“At least 33 people and companies listed in the documents
were blacklisted by the US government for wrongdoing, including dealings with
North Korea and Iran, as well as Lebanon's Islamist group Hezbollah, the ICIJ
said.
“Names also figuring in the leak included Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko, martial arts film star Jackie Chan,
recently-elected Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, President of the United
Arab Emirates Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and the late father of
British Prime Minister David Cameron, Ian Cameron.
(FRANCE
24 with AFP, REUTERS)
Date created : 2016-04-03
Tuesday, April 5, 2016
POSTED MARCH 20
[A
STATEMENT POSTED BY SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS ON MARCH
19 DURING HIS CAMPAIGN FOR THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY NOMINATION. TO SEE OTHER FACTS
ABOUT PFIZER AND ITS EFFORTS TO WIN A CORPORATE TAX INVERSION, USE Microsoft
Command f IN THIS SEARCHER.]
“Pfizer is a
giant pharmaceutical company based in New York City that has a history of overcharging
Americans for prescription drugs. It's in the process of trying to merge with
another company located in Ireland.
“If the
merger is successful, Pfizer would
technically become a foreign company, meaning it could dodge around $35 BILLION in corporate
taxes here in America.
“Enough is enough. Pfizer and other
pharmaceutical companies cannot be allowed to ‘evade taxes and rip
off American patients who already pay the highest prices in the world for
prescription drugs.
………………………………………………………….
”What Pfizer is trying to do is known as a ‘corporate inversion.’ In this case, Pfizer, an American company, is merging with a company based abroad. The result of the merger is a company with an address in another country – even though the majority of shareholders are still based in America.
………………………………………………………….
”What Pfizer is trying to do is known as a ‘corporate inversion.’ In this case, Pfizer, an American company, is merging with a company based abroad. The result of the merger is a company with an address in another country – even though the majority of shareholders are still based in America.
“Pfizer apparently doesn't want to pay the $35 billion
in taxes it would owe in America. I don't think that's
right.
”No matter what, you can bet that Pfizer would continue to overcharge Americans for prescription drugs, too. The pharmaceutical company has hiked the prices of seven of its top selling drugs by an average of 39 percent.
”Pfizer also charges 12 times as much in the U.S. under Medicare for these drugs as it charges in Ireland, where it’s claiming a new address for tax purposes.
“All of this is the result of years of weakened tax laws, an abdication of responsibility by American companies to their country, and a corrupt political system that allows it to happen.”
CNBC (TV) SAYS PFIZER WILL DROP ATTEMPTED
TAX INVERSION
“Pfizer
and Allergan [maker of Botox] will mutually terminate
their merger early Wednesday morning ET, sources told CNBC,
after changes in U.S. tax regulations
dealt a death blow to the $160 billion deal.
“Pfizer will pay Allergan a $400 million break fee as per the
merger agreement, the sources said.”
NEW RULES MAY HALT PFIZER TAX INVERSION
“NEW YORK, April 5 (Reuters)
- U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc's $160 billion agreement to acquire Botox maker
Allergan Plc was on the brink of being abandoned on Tuesday, after the U.S.
Treasury issued new rules on how tax ‘inversion’ deals can be structured.
“Allergan's shares were hit
considerably hard on Tuesday, showing how the rules that were issued on Monday
targeted the biggest inversion attempted to date. The federal government has
grappled with a wave of recent inversions by U.S. companies seeking to slash their tax bills by redomiciling overseas in merger deals.
“Pfizer is now leaning towards
abandoning the deal with Allergan, though no final decision has yet been made,
a source familiar with the situation said. Were the deal to be tweaked, Pfizer
is concerned U.S. President Barack Obama's administration could change the
rules again to thwart a deal, according to the source.
“Pfizer shares ended up 2 percent
on hopes the company would walk away or renegotiate the deal in its favor.
Allergan shares closed down 14.8 percent to their lowest level since October
2014.
“Obama on Tuesday called global
tax avoidance a ‘huge problem’ and urged Congress to take action to stop U.S. companies from tax-avoiding corporate ‘inversions’, which lower companies tax bills by redomiciling
overseas.
" ‘While the Treasury
Department's actions will make it more difficult... to exploit this particular
corporate inversions loophole, only Congress can close it for good,’ Obama
said.
“Several U.S. presidential
candidates, including Republican Donald Trump and Democrats Hillary Clinton and
Bernie Sanders, have seized on the issue in their campaigns.
" ‘We have so many companies
leaving, it is disgraceful,’ Trump told reporters as he greeted voters in
Waukesha, Wisconsin on Tuesday. Clinton and Sanders both expressed support for
Treasury's plan.
“Besides Pfizer-Allergan, other pending inversion deals that
have not yet closed include the proposed $16.5
billion merger of Johnson Controls Inc with Ireland-based Tyco International Plc, Waste Connections Inc's $2.67
billion deal with Canada's Progressive Waste Solutions Ltd , and IHS Inc's $13 billion
acquisition of London-based Markit Ltd.
Monday, April 4, 2016
$7.6 TRILLION IN TAX HAVENS
“Gabriel Zucman,
who teaches at the University of California
at Berkeley,
has two goals in his new book, The Hidden Wealth of Nations: to specify the
costs of tax havens, and to figure out how to reduce those costs. While much
of his analysis is technical, he writes with moral passion, even outrage; he
sees tax havens as a ‘scourge.’ His figures are arresting. About 8 percent of
the world's wealth, or $7.6 trillion, is held in tax havens. In 2015,
Switzerland alone held $2.3 trillion in foreign wealth. As a result of fraud from
unreported foreign accounts, governments around the world lose about
$200 billion in tax revenue each year. Most of this amount comes from the evasion
of taxes on investment income, but a significant chunk comes from fraud
on inheritances. In the United States, the annual tax loss is $35 billion; in
Europe, it is $78 billion. In African nations, it is $14 billion.”
has two goals in his new book, The Hidden Wealth of Nations: to specify the
costs of tax havens, and to figure out how to reduce those costs. While much
of his analysis is technical, he writes with moral passion, even outrage; he
sees tax havens as a ‘scourge.’ His figures are arresting. About 8 percent of
the world's wealth, or $7.6 trillion, is held in tax havens. In 2015,
Switzerland alone held $2.3 trillion in foreign wealth. As a result of fraud from
unreported foreign accounts, governments around the world lose about
$200 billion in tax revenue each year. Most of this amount comes from the evasion
of taxes on investment income, but a significant chunk comes from fraud
on inheritances. In the United States, the annual tax loss is $35 billion; in
Europe, it is $78 billion. In African nations, it is $14 billion.”
Sunstein, Cass R, ‘Parking the Big Money,’ in The New
York Review, January 14, 2016, pp: 37-38, a review of The Hidden Wealth
of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens, by Gabriel Zucman, University of
Chicago Press, 2015.
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