Weekend Reading

The Hottest Tax Break for the Rich Is a Middle-Class Retirement Account

Groups Call For Defunding the Police To Solve Milwaukee Pension Crisis

Fed to ban policymakers from owning individual stocks, restrict trading following controversy

Cancel Culture Takes a Big "L"

Where Did the Playoffs Payoff Go? It Wasn’t to the City

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Strauss, Amazon projects force local competition questions

“I’m told there was an informal agreement that no municipality would poach from each other,” Franklin Mayor Steve Olson told the Milwaukee Business Journal. “I’m not sure that’s the case any more.”

That's rich. Suburbs, like Franklin, exist because of poaching.  Suburbs were happy to offer 'economic incentives' to attract formerly good paying jobs and companies away from the central city.  Now that cities are seeing a resurgence and can compete, the suburbs are pretending this (economic development incentives) is some new occurrence.  Perfectly fine when they do it ... but when it happens to them, not so much.

For Further Reading:
Corporate Tax Breaks
Failure of Economic Development Incentives
Grading Places
Industrial Incentives
Rethinking Growth Strategies
Tax and Spending Incentives and Enterprise Zones
The Great American Jobs Scam

Ending The War Among The States

Economic Development, Tax Incentives and The Plutocracy It's Creating

Job Piracy

Blackmailed Into Oblivion

Legalized Bribery

Buying Jobs

Privatizing The Profits, Socializing The Loses

There the "free" marketeers go again. Milwaukee real estate execs question Housing Authority's high-rise plan.

So, the City is booming. Development, jobs, tourism, new businesses...things are looking up.

As usual, when things start to gentrify, certain people are priced out of the market...yet those workers are still necessary for the booming economy to exist.

Enter affordable housing. Another policy answer to a society that doesn't pay a living-wage. If you're not going to pay a downtown-wage for a downtown-worker, public policy steps in to subsidize and correct the market.

It's as much a subsidy to the employer as it is to the worker. By subsidizing the housing of these workers, the government is allowing the employer to pay below-market wages.

Also, as usual, and wanting to have it both ways, local developers are complaining when the government steps in to correct the market. The Milwaukee Business Journal reported, "The Housing Authority in April introduced its plan, which calls for spending up to $150 million on a high-rise tower with 350 apartments, a mix of market-rate and affordable units."

Tim Gokhman, director of New Land Enterprises, told the Business Journal:

He said if the city has figured out how to generate a profit from a high-rise to subsidize affordable units, “teach the rest of the market how those profits can be attained.”

Because the profits aren't high enough for private developers, because the returns on investment aren't elevated enough, because the government won't just give them the money to do it, private developers are complaining when the government enters the market to provide needed housing for citizens. (Privateers complain when the government does any of the many things the magic "free" market won't do.)

Developers can't have it both ways. They can't claim they're the experts - the "free" market and the private actors have all the answers and will provide as long as the government stays out of the way. But then, in the very next breath, they come to the public for giveaways, tax breaks and other hand-outs they claim the need for their projects.

If the public has to give tax cuts, subsidies and incentives to private actors to get them to do something, why shouldn't the public entity just complete the project?

The private sector does some things well. But it's time we re-realize the same can be said for the public sector.

How Corporate Welfare Hurts You

Weekend Reading

Robert Mueller Blows Trump's 'No Obstruction' Lie To Bits
Top CEO Salaries Keep Rising
Joblines Bus Will End After August
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos Pitches A Fit Over A State Budget, Again
Is Uber's Stock Scam Evidence Of A Successful Business Model?
China Is Not The Source Of Our Economic Problems - Corporate Greed Is
Taking Aim At Tax Incentives
Wisconsin TV Station Reports "Immense" Bucks Arena Windfall After Talking Only To Guy Who Cut Bucks Arena Deal
When Winning Isn't Really Winning
Should Cities Regulate How You Design Your Home
Why Public Spaces Are Critical Social Infrastructure
Mueller's Illegitimate Hoax Investigation Somehow Just Led To Another Indictment Involving The Trump Campaign
When Socialists Swept Milwaukee
The Rise Of Corporate Market Power
Do Tax Breaks Help Or Hurt A State's Finances?

Corporate Profits, CEO Pay & America's Rigged System

Amazippi

A Few Words On Socialism

So·cial·ism /ˈsōSHəˌlizəm/ (noun)
A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.

Republicans and conservatives, and even some moderates and Democrats, have been demonizing the idea of socialism in the media as of late. (All while bitching about billionaires not being given billions in corporate welfare - socialism for the rich.)

Some of the Democratic 2020 presidential candidates have been talking of taxing the rich, fighting climate change, getting off of fossil fuels, providing Medicare for all and providing free college tuition.

The status quo, pro-business, free marketeers are up in arms over this.

Earth to douchebags - America is already a socialist country.  And conservatives are more than happy with socialism for the rich.  This is the predominant socialism (for the rich) in the U.S., hence rising income inequality over the past few decades.

But let's take a look at some examples of all the "socialist" policies America has:

Health Care (Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Administration)

Research & Development (NIH, Pharma)

Police and Fire Fighters

Public Education

Public Transportation (Buses, Air Traffic Control, Roads, Etc.)

Water & Sewer

Public Airwaves

The Military

Corporate Welfare (Farm and Oil Subsidies, Etc.)

Tax Breaks (Tax Cuts, Tax Incentives, Tax Credits)

Deregulation

The crux of the recent call for higher taxes and re-investment in our public goods is not some wacko commie scheme, it's the same plan of action the United States took after World War II, with high marginal tax rates, which led to our greatest period of growth and prosperity.  A rising tide lifted all boats. Our infrastructure was world class. People who worked were able to pay their bills and save for retirement.  

Republicans always reminisce about the great days of yesteryear.  But they forget to mention the fact that taxes on the rich were much, much higher then, too.  

For Further Reading:

Democratic Socialism? We're Already Living In It

5 Ways America Is Already Socialist

The Great Wealth Transfer

The Great Divergence

Wealth, Wages and Politics

Politics, Policy and Inequality

Graph: The Great Divergence

The United States Of Inequality

Disclosing The Costs Of Corporate Welfare

Where Is The Outrage Over Corporate Welfare

Taxpayers — not Big Pharma — have funded the research behind every new drug since 2010

U.S. Investments in Medical and Health Research and Development

The Public Airwaves as a Common Asset and a Public Good

Corporate tax breaks cost U.S. schools billions of lost revenue

Massive Spending Cuts: The Tax Act's Hidden Costs

Did Deregulation Work?

Weekend Reading

State Shared Revenue: Not So Much Going On
The Story of Stagnant Wage Growth
An Unlikely Group Of Billionaires And Politicians Has Created The Most Unbelievable Tax Break Ever
So Many Seats, So Many Tax Breaks
This Is Why Lawmakers Want To Gut The Endangered Species Act
White Americans Support Welfare Programs - But Only For Themselves, Says New Research
Koch-backed Study Finds Medicare For All Would Save U.S. Trillions
Much Of The U.S. Electric Grid Could Go The Way Of The Landline Phone
Most Wealthy Countries Aren't Religious. Then There's The U.S.
Billionaires Gone Wild
How Government Helps The Economy
Rulers Of The World: Read Karl Marx
A Radical Defense Of The Right To Strike
Stock Buybacks, Explained
The Trump Administration's Giant Fuck You To Working People
Chris Abele Suspending Values Tour

Weekend Reading

White Flights Returns, This Time From The Suburbs
Big Business Tax Breaks May Worsen Income Inequality
Big Coal Is Using This Small Oklahoma Town As A Toxic Waste Dump
Why Poverty Is Rising Faster In Suburbs Than Cities
Japan's Recovery Is The Greatest Economic Success Story Never Told
If The Economy Is So Great, Why Are 78 Million Hustling For Dimes?
The Financial Scandal No One Is Talking About
The Baby Boomer - Not Millennials - Screwed America
A New Genetic Clue To How Humans Got Such Big Brains
The Numbers That Explain Why Teachers Are In Revolt
No One Answers Their Phone Anymore
Why We Should Bulldoze The Business School
Mourning In America: What My Father, Ronald Reagan, Would Say

Comparing State Pension Costs To Corporate Subsidies And Tax Breaks

Putting State Pension Costs In Context 

PUTTING PENSION COSTS IN CONTEXT: NEW REPORT SHOWS CORPORATE TAX SUBSIDIES AND LOOPHOLES OFTEN EXCEED STATE RETIREMENT COSTS 

Attacks on Pensions, Safety Net Programs, Distract from Corporate Giveaways that Exacerbate Economic Inequality 

Washington D.C., January 30, 2014 — State lawmakers who are considering drastic cuts to the retirement benefits of state workers are simultaneously giving away billions of dollars in corporate tax subsidies and loopholes, often in amounts far exceeding the cost of pensions, according to a new report. 

Putting State Pension Costs in Context by Good Jobs First examines 10 states where elected officials are threatening to undermine retirement security by cutting the pension benefits of their teachers, firefighters, police officers, and hundreds of thousands of other public employees. The states included in the report are: Arizona; California; Colorado; Florida; Illinois; Louisiana; Michigan; Missouri; Oklahoma; and Pennsylvania. 

The findings show that in each state, the revenue lost to corporations through loopholes and tax breaks outpaces the current cost of pension benefits to state employees. 

“In states across the country, politicians are attempting to solve the budget woes caused by Wall Street and the Great Recession by cutting the pension benefits of public employees,” said Philip Mattera, Research Director of Good Jobs First. “It is often stated that budgets are a matter of priorities. And our research shows that corporate interests are generally prioritized over teachers, firefighters, police officers, and thousands of other employees who dedicate their lives to public service.” 

The average retirement for a member of the Louisiana State Retirement fund is $19,000 a year. Yet, Louisiana gives away about $1.8 billion a year to corporations through corporate subsidies and tax loopholes—totaling about five times the annual pension cost for state workers. 

Pennsylvania loses nearly $4 billion annually as a result of corporate subsidies and loopholes—more than two and half times the cost of public pensions. Pennsylvania’s state pensions average a modest $24,000 a year. In Michigan, corporations also enjoy about $1.8 billion in subsidies and tax breaks – more than three times the cost of meeting the state’s commitment to retirees. The list goes on. 

These ten states were chosen for analysis because their legislatures are underfunding pensions or elected officials are threatening to cut pension benefits. Actuarial analysis provided the normal cost of funding pensions on a yearly basis, which excludes the costs of making up for past underfunding. Data was derived by examining the latest state tax expenditure reports, state budget documents, and reports by state tax and budget watchdog groups. 

“As a matter of honest accounting and fair budgeting, state leaders should examine all forms of spending before they single out pensions or any other expense,” said Mattera. “Corporate tax breaks and loopholes are often poorly understood and little-noticed because they do not get debated as appropriations, nor do they often get sunsetted or audited. But over time they add up to hundreds of millions, or even billions, of dollars per year.”

Holiday Reading

Why Shopping At Walmart Is No Bargain
Raising The Minimum Wage: Old Shibboleths, New Evidence
Is Service Work Today Worse Than Being A Household Servant?
It's Business That Really Rules Us Now
Thorstein Veblen's Critique Of The American System Of Business
NFL On Defense With Tax Break 
California's Finances Improving Faster Than Expected
Right Vs. Left In The Midwest
After Less Than 20 Years, Atlanta Braves To Get New Stadium

Corporate Welfare

[source]

[source]

[source]

[source]

Weekend Reading

Myth & Reality: The Low-Wage Job Machine
How Corporate Giveaways Suck The Lifeblood From Your Community
How A Secretive Panel Used Data That Distort Doctors' Pay
Reagan's Million-Jobs Month Revisited
The Great American Do-It-Yourself Retirement Fraud
8 Ways Privatization Has Brought Pain & Misery To American Life
Manufacturing Tax Break Gone Wild
Many New Jobs Are Part-Time & Low-Paying
In Climbing Income Ladder, Location Matters
Tax Incentives: Costly For States, Drag On The Nation
15 Things Americans Would Know If There Were A Liberal Media

Thursday Reading

Taxing The Rich

See Yourself Where The Tax Breaks Go

Labor Union Decline Main Cause Of Rising Corporate Profits

One Walmart's Low Wages Could Cost Taxpayers $900,000 Per Year

CBO Study Shows Tax Breaks Favor The Rich

Only A Third Of Charitable Contributions Go To The Poor

Welfare For The Wealthy

U.S. 10-Year Bonds Yields In Perspective

Medicaid Expansion Denial Will Cost States Billions

The Fed, Inequality And Accounting Identities

Weekend Reading

The Most Expensive Tax Breaks

1. Employer Paid Health Insurance - Five year cost: $760 billion
2. Lower Rate For Capital Gains, Dividends - Five year cost: $616 billion
3. State And Local Tax Deductions - Five year cost: $431 billion
4. Mortgage interest deduction - Five year cost: $379 billion
5. Tax Free Medicare Benefits - Five year cost: $358 billion
6. Workplace Retirement Saving Plans - Five year cost: $336 billion
7. Earned Income Credit - Five year cost: $326 billion
8. Child Credit - Five year cost: $292 billion

Adding Up Just How Little We Actually Move
14 GOP Congressmen Against Borrowing, Have Big Debts Of Their Own
Workers Saving Too Little To Retire
Hate Paying Taxes? Try These States
Housing Has Been Booming! Construction Jobs Haven't. Here's Why.
Stop Subsidizing Wall Street

U.S. Firms Adding Jobs ... Overseas

Wall Street Journal & The Big Picture

Sunday Reading

Biggest public firms paid little U.S. tax
Has America become an oligarchy?
How corporate tax breaks could hurt small business
Income inequality is not a myth
Making globalisation work for workers
Soaring suburban poverty catches communities unprepared
Social Security and the federal deficit

Housing Handouts

Gifts for home builders and expensive home buyers.

Mayberry Machiavellians* Last Lootings

New Tax Rules: The Hidden Corporate Bailout

Bush's Final F.U.

*