We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Corporate Raid on State Tax Revenue

Click here to access article by Phil Mattera from It's Our Economy.

While states and municipalities are forced to cut back on education, health, and welfare, the big corporations play off one region against another or threaten to leave the country in order to garner huge benefits and exemption from taxes.
While it was once taken for granted that large U.S. corporations would do most of their investing at home, companies such as Boeing and Intel now act as if they are doing the country a favor with their domestic projects and expect to be rewarded handsomely in the form of special state tax breaks on top of those business-friendly provisions available to all firms.
As corporations, their stockholders, and bankers, and all of the One Percent are swimming in cash and luxury, the 99 Per Cent are sinking deeper into poverty. See this report entitled, "US mayors decry rise in poverty, homelessness" from AFP (Agence France-Presse).
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