tax

All posts tagged tax

Tim Worstall – the closest I can come to a compliment

Posted by soiniciulacht on July 9, 2012
Posted in: Comment, politics. Tagged: , , , , , .

“Ah yes; the trickle down argument! So, if rich people keep buying Jaguars then eventually the price of Mercedes will fall so far that even the poorest Skoda driver will be able to afford one? Thats simply not how the market works and it isnt how it would in healthcare….”

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Erm, actually, that is exactly how the market works. New technologies are introduced, they’re hugely and grossly expensive and only the richest can afford them. Fast forward a couple of decades and every chav in the land now has an example of the basic technology: hugely cheaper than the very expensive original and better too. Think cars, mobile phones, fridges, freezers….

Tim Worstall

The wonderful people at the Adam Smith Institute – the kind of people who would put their mothers funeral out to tender.

New technologies are introduced, prices drop and the ASI then say that benefits must be cut, salaries and working conditions are unsustainable,…

And so those lower down the financial scale never gain from the fruits of their labour.

Note the word ‘chavs’ from this arrogant lackey of the corrupt corporate kleptocracy a turd from the arse of a Think Tank  who no doubt has an orgasm when another person with severe needs commits suicide and he can plug in a spreadsheet and calculate the fraction of a penny he’s saved through no longer having to contribute towards their benefits….

Debating the 2020 Tax Commission; sort of

Posted by soiniciulacht on May 30, 2012
Posted in: accountability, Comment, Factual, news, tax avoidance /evasion. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

 Part of an Exchange between myself and someone associated with the 2020 Report.

(Exchange edited to remove identifying  information, not because I have to but because I’m feeling generous and because someone took the time to reply.)

I’m just interested to know what you mean by “corporate paymaster” – the “evidence” that you provide is pretty pathetic, isn’t it?

You’re claiming ..that the report that I contributed to on UK tax policy is influenced by that. [personal connection to an institution that receives generous funding from a famous extreme right wing donor]

If I was as opportunistic as you seem to think, why would I do that? Wouldn’t I just move on to a job that pays me more? …..

It’s a shame, because according to you there is zero chance that anything I ever write can be legitimate, and taken seriously. If I claimed that the earth was flat you’d think I’m wrong because Charles Koch made a donation to the ….and wants people to think that the earth is flat, as opposed to thinking i’m wrong because it *isn’t*. The validity of an argument is true/false independently of how research is funded.

I don’t think Paul Krugman’s work is sloppy because he gets paid by the New York Times. It’s sloppy because it’s *wrong*. Maybe i’m wrong too, but we can’t settle that based on who’s paying our salaries. FWIW most of my salary this month came from the [ a non-contentious source]. So your simplistic theory about financial backing -> policy prescriptions is demonstrably false.

I just want you to consider that maybe, just maybe, this isn’t all one vast conspiracy theory. Maybe there’s just people that disagree with you. Not because they’re evil, but because they’re different. It’s possible that some of those people are wealthy (but not all). If you have gone through life avoiding taking money from institutions that take money from anyone you disagree with, I’d be amazed. But the reason I went to George Mason is because I am a social scientist and believe that the ideas at which they specialise can shed light on the most important economic issues of our time.

I find it incredibly depressing that you refuse to even enter an amicable discussion, because of matters outside their control and of no relevance to the discussion at hand. Motivations are irrelevant – search for truth.

This is a private email, and you do not have my permission to make it public.(see below)

Did you actually read the original post? Taken as a single individual your personal circumstances are  neither here nor there to be honest but  when you present ‘Research’ you open yourself to the same scrutiny as that to which the scientists working on climate change in East Anglia were subject.

1/ I’m just interested to know what you mean by “corporate paymaster” – the “evidence” that you provide is pretty pathetic, isn’t it?

Many of the individuals and organisations mentioned below are linked, to greater or lesser extent, to counterparts in the USA linked with the increasingly discredited American legislative Exchange Council.

Note the word ‘many’ it is different to the word ‘all’. I can almost write the whole agenda for the IEA, TPA etc just by looking here:
http://www.alecexposed.org/wiki/Bills_to_Create_Tax_Loopholes_or_Affect_Budgets_Etc.

2/ You’re claiming that ..the report that I contributed to on UK tax policy is influenced by that [personal connection to an institution that receives generous funding from a famous extreme right wing donor]

From your email:

‘But the reason I [spent several years at this institution] is because I ..believe that the ideas at which they specialise can shed light on the most important economic issues of our time.’

Your words would suggest you chose to spend time there  and it would seem that given their agenda and your subsequent choices that you are influenced by that.

3/ I just want you to consider that maybe, just maybe, this isn’t all one vast conspiracy theory.

Have you seen the organisations based at Tufton Street? I’d have to be a complete idiot if I thought it was just a coincidence.(link)

4/ Maybe i’m wrong too, but we can’t settle that based on who’s paying our salaries

I don’t care about your salary – I do care about who funds the organisations that employ vast numbers of people to monopolise as much of the media as possible in order to set the agenda, to paraphrase an old economics dictum: A perfect democracy requires perfect information flow. If the paymasters’ identities weren’t important they wouldn’t go to so much effort to hide them.

5/ If you have gone through life avoiding taking money from institutions that take money from anyone you disagree with, I’d be amazed

I haven’t been telling other people how to run a country, although in strict fairness I haven’t had a wodge of time and money thrown at me in order to write a propaganda piece for the press.

6/  I did say:

I am particular to facts and evidence as without these basics we are little better than children shouting nah nah nah at each other.
I note you don’t provide any – which is par for the course for right wing arguments.
My turn now?
- when I think of research I don’t usually think of starting with the conclusion and building an argument around it but be that as it may
The Inhumanity of the 2020 Tax Commission Report

Let’s just compare approaches.
The 2020 Report mentions the Blue Ribbon Tax Structure Commission of Vermont; and today in Vermont:

The purpose of the budget must be to meet everyone’s fundamental needs.

  • The state must use human rights principles as the basis of budget and revenue proposals.
  • The state must develop an indicator system, based on human rights principles, that accurately assesses needs, as well as the efficacy of budget allocations in meeting those needs.
  • The budget process must be guided by binding accountability measures, including an indicator system.
  • The state must establish a process for meaningful public participation in the development of budget and revenue policies.
  • Revenue policy must be designed to fully fund a needs-based budget; in other words, necessary resources must be raised to meet people’s needs.


http://www.nesri.org/programs/the-peoples-budget-campaign-in-vermont

The ONLY mention of human rights in the 2020 report is on page 99 in which the only human right, apparently, is the right to private property.
The word disabled appears 3 times, twice in quotes about current taxes and once to state that disabled people should be taxed more.(page 52)
The word disability appears twice, both times quoting current policy
The phrase ‘social mobility’ – no occurrences.

The report is like the planned HMRC mini-report that will be in wage slip every April:
Here is how your money is spent: Child Services £1000
conveniently not mentioning that you received £2,500 in child benefit.
Money, property, wealth, taxes…… but no humanity, a very sad world.
I won’t insult you but every time I see something like this I think of the people who write reports like the 2020 Report
‘Under new proposals from Worcestershire County Council, some disabled people who are currently active in their communities may be forced into care homes, if this was the cheaper option. ‘

PS I explicitly stated I WILL publish everything that isn’t personal; as you replied I take that as having accepted the condition. I will however remove all identifying details such as your name and email address, not because I have to but because I am not quite angry enough to ditch my integrity and turn into a Sun newspaper writer.

The Most Corrupt Organisation in the World – Board of Scholars

Posted by soiniciulacht on April 18, 2012
Posted in: accountability, Factual, freedom of speech, Government, Legislation, sleaze. Tagged: , , , , , , , , .

#bbc #commentisfree #ukuncut #sleaze

Board of Scholars

Arthur B. Laffer

Dr. Laffer served as a member of President Reagan’s Economic Policy Advisory Board

Budget Deficits - Laffer Effect is clear

Apart from being famous for the ability to draw a meaningless curve Laffer has also shown that consistent failure can be lucrative.

Stephen Moore

Another serial failure making a living out of impoverishing the majority of his people. In case you haven’t noticed his position on the African American Republican Leadership Council Advisory Board makes him the closest of anyone in this organisation to a memebr of an ethnic grouping other than white.

Victor Schwarz

Dr. Richard Vedder

 the conservative, Washington, D.C.-based Center for College Affordability and Productivity released a study titled “Faculty Productivity and Costs at the University of Texas at Austin,” and its findings did not cast the university in a positive light. Administrators, meanwhile, say the analysis is premature.

Using the data released by the system, the study suggests that even a “moderate increase” in faculty emphasis on teaching at the flagship campus could generate significant savings. In fact, it asserts that if the 80 percent of faculty with the lowest teaching loads were to teach half as much as the 20 percent with the highest, tuition at the university could be cut in half.

Richard Vedder, the director of the center and the lead author on the study, said he was expecting to see disparities among professors’ productivity — a problem he said is typical at all large research universities — but not at the “breathtaking” level he found at UT-Austin. According to his analysis, 20 percent of the faculty teach 57 percent of the semester credit hours. That same quintile also accounts for 18 percent of research expenditures, which Vedder says contradicts the notion that an emphasis on teaching would harm the university’s research mission.

Leaders at UT and the UT System have not rushed to embrace Vedder’s conclusion and point out that the data release was accompanied by a significant caveat from system spokesman Anthony de Bruyn: “The attached data spreadsheet in its current draft form are incomplete and have not yet been fully verified or cross referenced. In its present raw form it cannot yield accurate analysis, interpretations or conclusions.”

Bob Williams

Williams is also a visiting fellow with George Mason University’s Mercatus Center State and Local Policy Project, a Charles Koch-funded project

The Mercatus Center has engaged in campaigns involving deregulation, especially environmental deregulation. Fourteen of the 23 regulations that George W. Bush put on his hitlist were, according to the Wall Street Journal, first suggested by people working at the Mercatus Center

A Cure for the Conservative Party’s Ills (Day 24 Since free Press Died)

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 30, 2012
Posted in: accountability, budget, Comment, equality, Factual, Francis Maude, Government, Legislation, Minister, Parody, public sector pay, sleaze, Tories, welfare reform. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Electorate not listening? Feeling Impotent?

Ingredients

Makes: 4 Cornish Pasties

  • 225g plain flour
  • 50g vegetable fat
  • 50g margarine
  • jug of cold water
  • 1 small potato, peeled and grated
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 small carrot, peeled and grated
  • a handful of sweetcorn
  • 10 green beans
  • 100g minced Quorn
  • 1 vegetable stock cube
  • a small amount of milk

Preparation method

Prep: 30 mins | Cook: 30 mins

1. Set oven to 220 C / Gas 7.

2. Rub fats into the flour using fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine, dry breadcrumbs. Mix together with enough cold water to form a soft but not sticky dough. Knead dough gently on a lightly floured surface and divide into 4 equal sized pieces.

3. Roll out each piece of dough into a circle shape, about .5cm in thickness.

4. Mix together the potato, onion, carrot, sweetcorn, green beans and Quorn mince and crumble the stock cube into the mixture.

5. Place a small amount of filling onto each pastry circle, using your fingers dampen the edge of the pastry with water and bring the edges together. Seal well.

6. Place the pasties onto a greased baking tray and glaze with milk. Then with a fork, make little holes into the side of the pasties. This will prevent them from bursting open.

7. Bake for 10 minutes at 220 C / Gas 7, then reduce the temperature to 180 C / Gas 4 and bake for a further 20 minutes.

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Tit of the Day – Francis Maude

Engaging with the voters

A barrister,member of Shirley Porter’s Westminster Council,  Managing Director at Morgan Stanley, non-executive director of ASDA Group Plc, director of Salomon Brothers, appointed to the board of directors of Huntsworth, chairman of Prestbury Holdings plc, deputy chairman of Benfield Group Limited, chairman of the Jubilee Investment Trust plc, he was a non executive director of Gartmore Shared Equity Trust it seems evident that this is a Cabinet member in touch with the electorate.

francis-maude-image-2-242631686

No, he only has a flat in this building.

Francis Maude, Tory Cabinet Office spokesman, claimed almost £35,000 on a flat despite owning a £500,000 house a minute’s walk away.

The house is let to tenants while he claims a second-home allowance on the flat, which has a luxury gym and 24-hour concierge service. Both properties are in Lambeth, South London.

One's town house

With all his associations with banking and the finance industry it comes as no surprise whatsoever that from 1994 to 1997, well before the financial crisis, he was on the Deregulation Task Force.

If you look very closesly you may be able to see the gerry cans.

Well now we see where the Minister is coming from let’s examine the ‘all-in-it-together’ quotient. Let’s start with public sector workers.

Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude insisted that it should not be necessary to offer “stupendous amounts” of money in the public sector.

“You can square the circle of having really good people not on telephone number salaries and massive built-in bonuses,” he told the programme. “That public service ethos is very important. People will come and work in a public sector for salaries that aren’t competitive in a private sector sense.”

Of course in a time of austerity some public sector workers, well around 800 thousand actually, are unaffordable so what should they do?

Cabinet Minister Francis Maude recently caused some controversy by declaring that public sector workers who are made redundant should volunteer to manage other volunteers. In his statement he suggested that charities had an excess of volunteers that they could not involve due to a shortage of volunteer managers and that public sector staff who have just lost their jobs should step in and help. Does that mean that their Mandatory Work-related Activity could involve them in spervising others on mandatory Work-related Activity? Maybe they could be referred to JC+ for sanctioning because they fail to sanction someone who they are supervising as part of their mandated MWRA. They may even be one of the people fired from DWP and the peron responsible for sanctioning them could be an ex-colleague. How they must chuckle over dinner with their multi-millionaire donors as they talk about all the ‘chavs’ fighing like rats in a sack for the right to work for nothing. To be fair Maude described his voluntary activities on the BBC.

But there’s more. Whilst Guido fawkes is baging on about Ken Livingstone’s anti-Semitism it seems only fair to raise the issue of Maude’s attitude in this arena:

In Alan Clark’s “Diaries” Maude was quoted as saying that then Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson “couldn’t be Foreign Secretary as a Jew”

I would have thought it would have been much more accurate to say Lawson shouldn’t be Chancellor because he was an incompetent feckwit, his greatest ability turned out to be creating recessions.

He was also co-Founder of Policy Exchange the most corrupt, ideologically inept right-wing think-tank going which gave us, amongst others Michael Gove whose abuses of power and lack of accountability are unlikely to be of any note to Mr Maude given the latter’s previous acquaintanceship with Dame Shirley Geryymander.

Just to show that I can say something positive about the pointy-nosed Jack Russel impersonator did get something right:

His description of New Labour was spot on

‘One of the great achievements of New Labour is to take class out of politics.’

Of course what he really meant was that the corrupt money digging bastards who took over the Labour Party for purposes of self enrichment had turned it into another Tory Party and thus had ceased to even acknowledge the existence of anyone outside the moneyed classes.

"The greatest triumph of reason is to live well with those who have none."

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 29, 2012
Posted in: benefits, budget, Comment, daily mail, equality, EU Law, Factual, Fiction, freedom of speech, Government, health, history, human rights, Legislation, nhs, Parody, public sector pay, sleaze, tax avoidance /evasion, Tories, welfare reform. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

The View from 2007

Definitions

The Mainstream Media

Deleted by  moderator.

Climate change denier

Someone who would stand in a frying pan while his feet were burning just so he could argue that the fire was out.

The Scientific method

Science dictates e = mc^2 it doesn’t dictate an atom bomb

Capital Punishment

“Capital punishment means those without capital get the punishment.”

He didn’t get executed for the crime he got executed for not accepting the plea bargain.

——————————————————————————————————————

Myth Busting

Private Sector management

‘ I’ve yet to meet anyone in the public sector who could actually run a raffle’

Including the managers that rushed for the trough on privatisation ?

Boardroom Pay

Boardroom pay at the UK’s top companies soared 37% last year as full-time directors were rewarded with inflation-busting increases in basic salaries, big cash bonuses and substantial payouts from share schemes.

‘The surge in pay, which takes the average total pay for a chief executive to £2,875,000, is more than 11 times the increase in average earnings and nearly 20 times the rate of inflation as measured by the consumer price index. The ratio between bosses’ rewards and employees’ pay has risen to 98:1, up from 93:1 a year ago.

The figures are revealed in the Guardian’s annual survey of executive pay at the 100 biggest companies on the stock market, conducted in association with the pay consultancy Reward Technology Forum. The pay rise for the 2006/07 financial year is the biggest in recent years. The previous year directors’ pay climbed 28%, following rises of 16% and 13%. (By my calculations 129% increase in 4 years – how many companies have given that value to shareholders?)

Part-time chairmen of top companies – who generally work no more than two days a week – now earn an average of £311,000, up 15% on a year ago.’


http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/aug/29/executivepay2

‘ UK businesses may not be doing enough due checks on the relevant credentials of company directors they hire, as a quarter FTSE 100 chairmen have little relevant experience of the industries in which they work, new research has shown,.

The research claimed that in 18% of cases, boards failed to communicate any ‘clear aim’ for the company and also further stated that that ‘the workings of the board remains opaque to stakeholders who are then forced to wait until the strategy plays out to see whether it delivers shareholders value or not’.

‘An ineffective board will destroy value for shareholders,’ the research states.

Bonham Carter, a partner in the board advisory firm Armstrong Bonham Carter firm – which published the findings – raised questions about whether the UK’s Combined Code of Corporate Governance should be reviewed to compel companies to set targets for their directors and promote board transparency.

‘Chairmen and their boards always claim they are effective. We have unearthed strong evidence to the contrary,’ he said.


http://www.accountancyage.com/accountancyage/news/2204904/research-raises-questions

Public Sector Pay

‘ the average wage in the public sector is actually higher than that in the private sector’

this wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that cleaners, caterers, street cleaners and myriads of others have been moved from the public to the private sector?

‘ Compass Group has 190 contracts across the country, mainly in the NHS and education. Catering is the core of the contract work, where it vies for being the largest school meals contractor. It is also involved in cleaning in the NHS, and has recently been combining services to bid for packaged contracts and PFI contracts.’

‘At Compass Group and Rentokil Initial, for example, directors’ pensions build up at twice the rate of the normal company pension. For each year of service directors in these companies build up 1/30th of their final pay and so it will take them only 20 years to build up a pension of twothirds their pay while their employees will have to work 40 years to get the same proportion.’

A pageful of ‘parasites’:


http://www.compassgroupinc.com/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=223548&ssid=70349&vnf=1

and the ‘smoking gun’ from a page entitled ‘Labor Cost Management Benefits’, note in the Financial Benefits Section one of the benefits is – Decreased Average Hourly Wage


http://www.compassgroupinc.com/files/Benefits%20Module%20NEW%20070215ck.pdf

‘Unison today reported that the result of private sector tendering for cleaning jobs in the NHS was a reduction in the number of cleaners over the past two decades, leading to an increased risk of infection. Their earlier study stated that the 45% cut in cleaning staff (in 1984 there were more than 100,000 cleaners, but by 2003, the number had fallen to 55,000) directly caused the spread of the “MRSA superbug”.

MRSA is blamed for 5,000 deaths a year. It is estimated that hospital-acquired infections (including but not limited to MRSA) affect about 100,000 people each year in England, costing the NHS £1bn.

Simply put, private agencies want to make a profit. In order to do this they:

1. cut staff numbers without reducing the workload, so that cleaners cannot possibly do their job properly

2. cut the amount and quality of cleaning equipment at their disposal (e.g. cheap disinfectants)

3. refuse sick pay to workers (or avoid the problem by only using part-time staff) meaning that cleaners attend work while carrying illnesses which can be passed to patients

4. fail to provide protective equipment to cleaners working in areas where patients have infectious diseases (while NHS staff are warned of the dangers of cross infection, and given suitable equipment)

5. use staff for more that one job (but no doubt charge the tax payer for both). One cleaner confirmed “I could go straight from cleaning the toilets to giving out teas; I can´t change my uniform.”

6. warn staff not to speak to the press about the unsatisfactory situation’


http://www.endevil.com/nhscleaning.html

Figures of the kind you won’t get from the IEA, John Redwood, George Osborne and others arguing for tax cuts for the rich

Income

The top one percent of households received 21.8 percent of all pre-tax income in 2005, more than double what that figure was in the 1970s. (The top one percent’s share of total income bottomed out at 8.9 percent in 1976.) This is the greatest concentration of income since 1928, when 23.9 percent of all income went to the richest one percent. (Piketty and Saez)

The above figures include capital gains, which are strongly affected by the ups and downs of the financial markets. Excluding capital gains, the richest one percent claimed 17.4 percent of all pre-tax income in 2005, more than double what that figure was in the 1970s. (It bottomed out at 7.8 percent in 1973.) This is the greatest concentration of income since 1936, when the richest one percent received 17.6 percent of total income. (Piketty and Saez)

Between 1979 and 2005, the top five percent of American families saw their real incomes increase 81 percent. Over the same period, the lowest-income fifth saw their real incomes decline 1 percent. (Census Bureau)

In 1979, the average income of the top 5 percent of families was 11.4 times as large as the average income of the bottom 20 percent. In 2005, the ratio was 20.9 times. (EPI, State of Working America 2006-07, Figure 1J)

All of the income gains in 2005 went to the top 10 percent of households, while the bottom 90 percent of households saw income declines. (EPI Snapshot, March 28, 2007)

Unprecedented levels of capital income are fueling inequality in the current business cycle. In the third quarter of 2006, the share of corporate income going to capital (profits and interest) hit an all-time high of 23 percent, with the remaining 77 percent going to employee compensation. Since capital income disproportionately goes to the top of the income scale, this shift towards capital income increases the income gap. (EPI Snapshot, Jan. 17, 2007)

‘Wages

Between 1949 and 1979, the inflation-adjusted average hourly wage for production workers rose 75 percent, from $9.00 to $15.78. Since 1979, the average production-worker wage has risen only 2 percent, from $15.78 to $16.11. (EPI, State of Working America 2006-07, Table 3.3)

Between 1979 and 2004, American workers raised their productivity 64 percent, while their median hourly compensation rose only 12 percent. (Economic Policy Institute, Datazone: PDF, XLS)

In 2006, households in the bottom 20 percent received $23 due to the Bush tax cuts. Households in the middle 20 percent received $448. Families in the top 1 percent received $39,020. And households in the top 0.1 percent received $200,523. (Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, Table T06-0034)’

In 2004 71% of Net Worth was concentrated in the hands of the top 10% and 91% of net financial assets.

37% of stock owned by top 1% and 79% by top 10%.

The Costs of going green

Du pont – reduced green house gases by 70% and saved 2 billion other companies such as BT, Bayer and IBM cut between 10 and 70% of emissions through efficiency savings, using less fuel etc. Contrary to GW’s position they have actually benefited on the bottom line from adopting a ‘green agenda’.


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_50/b3963415.htm

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Right Wing Politics

Legalise it

Easiest way to legalise drugs:

Give the exclusive contract for US distribution to Halliburton

Immigration and the Tea Party

Can I assume that sometime in the near future we will see 300 million immigrants and their descendants returning from the USA?

Murdoch’s Greatest Successes

I remember it was ‘The Sun Wot Won It’, I don’t remember a headline 5 years later over a picture of John Major saying

‘It Was the Sun Wot Gave you this man’s Government’

A blow for democracy

Apparently getting a blow job from a consenting adult is an impeachable offence, invading other countries and carrying out torture, sorry ‘enhanced interrogation’, etc is not.

The Religious Right

Haven’t seen a right wing post on here for a little while I think they are looking for that part of the bible where it talks about means testing people before you treat them compassionately.

The Daily Mail Academy

Politics, morals and ethics could be taught by Anne Leslie, she has enough intolerance to spread around a whole school.

Sex Education by Boris Johnson.

Steve MacClaren is free if they need a PE teacher.

Business Studies in the Northern Rock wing.

Anyone whose parents lose their jobs, thereby becoming eligible for free school meals, will be expelled from the school.

Foreign languages will not be taught as any civilised person would be expected to speak English, exceptions may be made for those wishing to study Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

All students will be issued with bibles, Old Testament only, with the passages used to discriminate against homosexuals and to promote the death penalty highlighted.

Walmart

This company runs ads featuring the United States flag and proclaims “We Buy American”.

In 2001 they moved their worldwide purchasing headquarters to China and are the largest importer of Chinese goods in the US, purchasing over $10 BILLION of Chinese-made products annually.

* Their average employee working in the US makes $15,000 a year, $7.22 per hour! * The company brags that 70% of their employees are full time, but fails to disclose that they count anyone working 28 hours a week or more as full time.

* There are no health care benefits unless you have worked for the company for two years.

* With a turnover rate averaging above 50% per year, only 38% of their 1.3 million employees have health care coverage. -In California alone it’s estimated that the taxpayers pay over $20 million annually to subsidize health care benefits for these employees who get none from this behemoth corporation.

* According to a report by PBS’s “Now” with Bill Moyer, their managers are trained in what government social programs are available for these”employees” to take advantage of so that the company can pass on those costs to you and me. It allows them to not only keep their $7 BILLION in annual profits, but to do so by substituting benefits they refuse to provide with benefits paid for with taxpayer dollars.

* This company holds the record for the most suits filed against it by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A lawyer from “Business Week” (not exactly the bastion for supporting Labor) said, “I have never seen this kind of blatant disregard for the law.” They had to pay $750,000.00 in Arizona for blatant discrimination against the disabled! The judge was so incensed that he also order them to run commercials admitting their guilt.

* The National Labor Relations Board has issued over 40 formal complaints against the corporation in 25 different states in just the past five years. The NLRB’s top lawyer believed that their labor violations, such as Illegal spying on employees, fraudulent record keeping, falsifying time cards to avoid paying overtime, threats, illegal firings for union organizing etc., were so widespread that he was looking into filing a very rare national complaint against the company. (The company contributed $2,159,330.00 to GW Bush and the GOP in 2000 and 2002. The NLRB attorney was replaced when President Bush took office.).

* Nearly 1 MILLION women are involved in the largest class-action suit every filed against a corporation. Although women make up over 65% of this corporations work force only 10% of them are managers. The women who have become store managers make $16,400 a year LESS then the men.

* The corporation took out nearly 350,000 life insurance policies on their employees. They did not tell the employees and then named the corporation as the beneficiary. They are now being sued by numerous employees, and although the corporation has stopped this practice of purchasing what is known as “Dead Peasant Policy’s”, a company spokesperson stated, “The company feels it acted properly and legally in doing this.”

* They force employees to work after ordering them to punch out. In Texas alone this practice of “wage theft” is estimated to have cost employees $30 million per year. Wage theft or “off-the-clock” lawsuits are pending in 25 states. In New Mexico they paid $400,000.00 in one suit and in Colorado they had to pay $50 MILLION to settle one class-action case brought against them. In Oregon a jury found them guilty of locking employees in the building and of forcing unpaid overtime.

* With 4,400 stores they practice “predatory pricing.” They come into a community and sell their goods at below cost until they drive local businesses under. Once they have captured the market the prices go up.

What the Tories don’t mind being poured into the air in illegally high concentrations

Automobile exhaust consists wide range of pollutants from simple to carcinogenic substances such as (1) Hydrocarbons (Unburnt), (2) Carbon monoxide, (3) Oxides of nitrogen (NOx), (4) Lead oxides, (5) Particulate matters e.g. lead, carbon, alkaline earth compounds, iron oxide, tar, oil, mist (6) Traces of aldehydes, esters, ethers, sulphur dioxide, peroxides, ketones benzene (C6H6), 1, 3 butadine, Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH), metal dust, asbestos fibre, dioxin, furon, ammonia, organic acids , chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) etc.

http://www.cleanairnet.org/baq2004/1527/articles-59196_Kisku.doc

Libertarianism

I have a river flowing through my property, I put a net across it to catch all the fish. I am legally enjoying the benefits of my own property. What rights do the people downstream have, if any? (limits on freedoms/ some freedoms more important than others?) who decides? ( judicial system/ ballot/ local meeting/ whoever shouts loudest/ bribes and payoffs?) how will any enforcement be carried out? (police force/local militia/vigilantes/ big guys with guns?) will any decision in this particular case be applicable in all similar cases? (case law/judicial precedence/one law for all and all equal under that law?)

Once you move from the abstract to the concrete people have a nasty habit of buggering each other’s lives up whatever the nominal description of the system.

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Politics – UK

Conviction Politics – the politics of those who should have been convicted

Conviction politician – definition: a politician who bases policy on prejudice, typically conservative and reactionary in leaning, often to be found reading the Daily Mail in order to reinforce their belief that they are right.

New Labour Politician – conviction politician who spends a large amount on their PR budget

Thatcherism – conviction politics that believes that ‘if it isn’t hurting it isn’t working’ providing the people hurting aren’t of the little-Englander persuasion. Many have since moved from government into boardrooms of privatised companies – sold to their friends at knockdown prices

Republican – US conviction politician who will bet other people’s lives that they are right, often to be found nudging shoes in toilets or pocketing money from large corporations that go broke leaving their workers without pensions

David Cameron – conviction politician with no idea what he wants to be conviction about

Party Leadership

3 party leaders:

2 public school boys and a man with a moral compass ( ie one that always points west I assume)

well that’s representative democracy sorted then.

Party Funding

‘David Cameron’s constituency party has admitted receiving £7,400 in invalid donations, it was revealed today. The Witney Conservative Association has agreed to forfeit the sum to public funds after initially banking the money.

The money came from two illegal sources, as the benefactors were not on the UK electoral roll.’


http://politics.guardian.co.uk/conservatives/story/0,,2229373,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

Lib Dem Leadership Election

The leadership race is unrepresentative – can’t the Lib Dems find anyone from Eton and Harrow so they can have a fully democratic election ?

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Religion

Pension Crisis

The Shroud of Turin is thought to be the death Shroud of Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Order of the Knights Templar (Druid stuff), arrested for heresy at the Paris Temple by king Philip IV of France on October 13, 1307.

Anyway, he apparently survived that. (But he clearly died at some later date …)’

Thank God for that we can’t afford pensions for people who only live 80-90 years never mind 700 !

Walking in the Faith

‘ I suspect we have both been where ‘angels fear to tread.”

It’s those bloody dog owners I tell you.

Religion and the Left

I treat the religious in a left wing manner: I look upon them in much the same way as I do a Spurs supporter, at best misguided at worst insane, but the difference is I don’t know many Spurs supporters trying to regulate my life on the basis of an iron age myth

Would the writers of the bible be sued for plagiarism in today’s courts?

‘I [Utnapishtim] released a dove from the boat, It flew off, but circled around and returned, For it could find no perch. I then released a swallow from the boat, It flew off, but circled around and returned, For it could find no perch. I then released a raven from the boat, It flew off, and the waters had receded: It eats, it scratches the ground, but it does not circle around and return. I then sent out all the living things in every direction and sacrificed a sheep on that very spot.’

From the Tablets of Gilgamesh circa 2000bc

and then the Mithraic influence:


http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006/12/merry_mithras.html

Creation Story

If the right wing were around at the creation of the universe they would be shouting obscenities at God for creating all people equal.

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Miscellaneous

International Sport

I defy anyone to claim the Yanks invented conkers, tiddlywinks, shove ha’penny, darts, bar billiards, bog snorkling or over 80′s nudist leapfrog

Selective Education

Even Marxists understand the idea of ‘to each according to his needs from each according to his abilities’ thereby differentiating between people on grounds of both need and ability.

Economic Literacy

I would suggest the all members of the IMF board be given a copy of Terry Pratchett’s latest book ‘Making Money’.

Politeness

Civility without compassion is like asking someone you are going to murder where they want to be shot

The Right to Strike

how can you strike if you are not in a union? who organises the ballots? if everyone resigned from a union and walked out could they claim that they had balloted themselves and voted to strike as an individual ?

The Right to Self Defence Against US Invasion

just put 20 Haitians on the dock and watch the marines run into the distance

The future of the NHS in 2007

‘Ten years ago commentators and health experts were asking whether the NHS was a suitable mechanism to provide healthcare in a modern, prosperous nation. Today, thanks to Labour’s investment and reform, the concept of a National Health Service publicly funded through general taxation and free at the point of delivery stands unchallenged.’

 
http://web.archive.org/web/20071012114838/http://www.labour.org.uk/health

Education Policy

The problem is that somewhere along the line the idea of a comprehensive system got mixed up with the idea of a comprehensive school.

The first idea is desirable in that education should cater to the needs of all. The second is a farce as no one school can do everything well.

TV Guide

Big brother, Big Brother’s Little Brother, Celebrity big Brother; Come Dancing, Celebrity Come Dancing, I’m On Come dancing Get me out of Here; X Factor, American X Factor, I’m Simon Cowell Buy Me a Ferrari Factor; Location Location Location, How to Become a Property Developer, Trinni and Susanna Patronise The Nation; I’m a Fat Ginger Chav and I need to be Ridiculed

Virtual Sex

‘ First the machine tells me I can’t post a comment because I’ve posted too recently, but please try again soon. So I try again soon, and come up twice.

Imagine if love was like that!’

Law and Order

I thought the solution to all these problems was more ASBOs and more video surveillance. Am I getting something wrong?

- they kept stealing the cameras

The Price of Culture

Royal Opera House tickets are not much more than a ticket for a game at Arsenal ‘

The difference is Arsenal didn’t ask the taxpayers to build the new stadium.

G K Chesterton

‘The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.’

Free Trade

Free Trade is like free beer, a nice idea in principle but a fucking big hangover to follow.

IP, EULAS and ‘Customers’

Where would we be if this principle had been thought of by say Henry Ford, would we still be driving Model T, albeit Version 7 that runs slower uses more fuel but does have a nice colour scheme?

How about licence restrictions on clothes – only the person who bought them can wear them but wearing them with a competitor’s accessories will void the warrranty?

Maybe a EULA for books, newspapers and magazines: you have a limited right to read the contents in private any ideas, inventions or financial benefits accrued from using this publication, or based upon the contents thereof must be accompanied in writing by permission from the editor. Allowing 3rd parties access to this publication is strictly prohibited.

The whole system of IP rights is just a way of trying to perpetuate monopolistic practices and preventing innovation.

Disability hate and Sleaze (Day 23 Since Free Press Died)

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 29, 2012
Posted in: accountability, benefits, budget, Comment, equality, Government, Legislation, Minister, Parody, sleaze, Tories, welfare reform. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Fact of the day

nine out of 10 people with learning disabilities have experienced abuse or harassment – Mencap

Disabled charity Access Dorset found in a survey that 40 per cent of people had experienced bullying behaviour.

Social landlords have a legal obligation to protect vulnerable tenants from disability-related hate crime

Hate crime action plan: Challenge it, Report it, Stop it [Wonder if we can report DWP Ministers and Press officers]

Disability hate crimes up a fifth

We will publish the Government’s new action plan on hate crime shortly. – Maria Miller

People with disabilities are being asked to talk about their experiences of bullying and hate crime in a new survey launched by Nottinghamshire County Council.

The BBC back to back with the Tories

——————————————————————————

The Wit and Wisdom of the Coalition Executive

David Cameron

Showing his continuing grasp on policy detail and sleaze.

Mr Cameron said that private companies, voluntary groups and charities will be given the right to run schools, hospitals and vast swaths of council services under ambitious plans to end the “state’s monopoly” over public sector work.

New draft laws published today will build on this idea by allowing private companies and charities to challenge local councils or hospitals if they feel they are being squeezed out of the market.

Now to wait for ARK Education , Stanley Fink’s Educational Charity, to bring a case against an LEA. £2.6 million in donations buys a lot of policies.

Two of Murdoch's Lap Dogs

William Hague

Not to be outdone on sleaze the lying bastard who vouched for Cashcroft’s tax status for a decade also likes the odd cosy dinner

Foreign Secretary William Hague has entertained three millionaire Tory donors at Chevening, his £15 million grace and favour Kent residence, it has emerged.

Tory peer Lord Ashcroft, who has given £10 million to the party, and financier Howard Leigh have attended twice. Malcolm Scott, former Tory treasurer in Scotland who has given more than £1.4 million since David Cameron became leader, also visited.

Must be useful as Foreign Minister having so much in common to talk about on visits to Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and other nations where government ministers have similar levels of ethical integrity.

Yes, I said 10 billion

Chris Grayling

Charities leaving Work Programme claim payments too low

The Minister for Employment responding with his customary charm– if he were lying on the ground next to a turd I’d move the turd away from the filth.

Responding to the exit of the Single Homeless Project from the Work Programme, employment minister Chris Grayling said:

“The deals that are done between sub-contractors and prime contractors are entirely down to them.”

Asked whether the government should be doing more to ensure that prime providers do not pass on all the financial risk to smaller charities in their supply chain, the Minister told the BBC:

“It is certainly the case that some organisations have done deals which are not working for them but I can’t be the person who does the deals for them.

“We have created an environment where we have given – particularly the voluntary sector sub-contractors – all the cards in their hand, but if they haven’t used those cards, that is not something the government can do for them.”

Prince Charming: prince charming, prince charming, ridicule is nothing to be scared of, don't you ever don't you ever, stop being dandy

Lord Fraud

On another post in this blog I discussed the definition of work and its effects on the legality of the MWRA schemes. Lord Fraud has seemingly got all the legal bases covered:

31 Jan 2012 : Column 1486 / 1487

Lord McKenzie of Luton: Before the noble Lord sits down, I thank him for that full response, but can he deal with the point about whether there has been any development of the definition of work for the operation of the cap in universal credit?

Lord Freud: No, my Lords, I am not aware that we have locked that down at this time. It is an issue that we are going to have to address when we lock down universal credit. I cannot update the noble Lord on that matter.

How wonderful to be able to design complicated policies before actually knowing what exactly is under discussion.

My Israeli donor's more generous than yours

Ken Clarke

What do the experts say about his plans for ‘secret justice’ ?

An elite group of lawyers in charge of ‘secret justice’ measures has launched a fresh assault on Government plans to widen their use.

They cast doubt on claims the proposals are vital to protect Britain’s intelligence relationship with America.

The majority of security-cleared special advocates – 57 out of 69 – insist proposals to allow secret hearings across any civil court case or inquest ‘represent a departure from the foundational principle of natural justice’.

Tory Party and Sleaze explained

The New Jerusalem Daily Briefing (Day 18 since the Free Press died)

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 20, 2012
Posted in: accountability, benefits, Comment, daily mail, Government, Legislation, Minister, tax avoidance /evasion, Tories. Tagged: , , , , , , , .

A Response to Gummer’s Tax Propaganda Proposal

The Daily Mail is a newspaper with a long historic tradition, recognised for their contributions by world leaders:

Adolf Hitler letter to Lord Rothermere (7th December, 1933)
I should like to express the appreciation of countless Germans, who regard me as their spokesman, for the wise and beneficial public support which you have given to a policy that we all hope will contribute to the enduring pacification of Europe. Just as we are fanatically determined to defend ourselves against attack, so do we reject the idea of taking the initiative in bringing about a war. I am convinced that no one who fought in the front trenches during the world war, no matter in what European country, desires another conflict.

for the support given

Lord Rothermere, telegram to Adolf Hitler 1st October, 1938)
My dear Fuhrer everyone in England is profoundly moved by the bloodless solution to the Czechoslovakian problem. People not so much concerned with territorial readjustment as with dread of another war with its accompanying bloodbath. Frederick the Great was a great popular figure. I salute your Excellency’s star, which rises higher and higher.

They are proud to continue to this day supporting the values that made the Mail what it is today.

They’ve jumped on Ben Gummer’s bandwagon (yes nepotism is acceptable to right wingers it’s only people who get ‘something for nothing’ they complain about)  asking for a breakdown of all tax expenditure to be sent out to taxpayers once a year.

Half the truth is the whole of a lie

At first sight a not unreasonable request until you see the real agenda behind it:

Truth about your tax bill: Everyone to get statement revealing THIRD of tax goes on welfare


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2117387/Budget-2012-Everyone-statement-revealing-tax-goes-welfare.html

They obviously use the DWP method of statistical analysis – lump huge wodges of stuff into the same pile and emphasise the least popular constituent.

here is the relevant part of their illustration:

15k 25k 50k
Welfare 813 1901 4728
Pensions 342 800 1989
Sick/Disabled 148 346 861
Family/Children 102 238 593
Housing 85 199 494
Unemployment 24 57 141

So we see straight away that almost 40% of ‘welfare’ spending is actually old age pensions. British pensions are not world-renowned for being the most generous in the western world but it would be interesting to see the Tories campaigning on a pension cutting platform.

We also see that around 12% is Family/Children – does this mean the hypocritical pig squealing from Dacre’s hired turds over cuts to Child Benefit will be dropped?

It therefore follows that those the Mail are after are the same targets as their great friend of some 90 years ago the sick and disabled or, as Lord Rothermere’s friend would have described them ARBIETSCHEU.

Not people - costs!

It should also be pointed out that the policy will not be to calculate a net figure:

If you are on 15k and have 3 children they won’t calculate your child benefit received- the figure you see will be a cost of £102, you will not see the £2461 you have received in the calculation. Similarly if you are a pensioner earning above the tax threshold you will not see the amount you received in your pension  included and so on.

The policy is typical anti-democratic propaganda masquerading as a public service, similar to the Taxpayers Alliance screaming for Transparency whilst carefully hiding the nature of their funders.

I have a proposal of my own:

Every Company in the Country whether public, private, partnership, subsidiary of a foreign company or anything else must publicly make available via an independently run website the total figure for the net taxes paid expressed as a percentage of gross turnover. Furthermore the HMRC should be required to publish anonymised individual taxation paid by each person whose total gross income is greater than 5 times the UK median, earnings for the purposes of this calculation to include not only salaries and bonuses but dividends, capital gains and so on.

Then we will be able to see not only the gross outflowings from taxpayers but also the gross inflows to the system.

The New Jerusalem Daily Briefing (Day 11 since the Free Press died)

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 13, 2012
Posted in: Comment, Parody, Tories. Tagged: , , , , . 
#wrb #nhs #spartacusreport #blacktriangle1 #dpac #uklabour #touchstoneblog

Tits of the Day

Today it’s a couple of journalists. So clean to polish a knob in public, Robert

Winnett, and Peter Foster, writing in the Telegraph have resorted to one of the

laziest of journalistic tropes.

Just as one knows all is right with the world when Kelvin MacKenzie is picking on

those who can’t fight back, The Sun is picking on those who can’t fight back, and the

Daily Mail is picking on those who can’t fight back, there is still a need for something to

signify that the world is moving thorough time.

To these two reporters has fallen the task of the political equivalent of the first

cuckoo – yes, ‘The Special Relationship’ is alive and well, nay, thriving in those

limestone Cotswold villages beloved of Miss Marpell fans and tax avoiders.

In their attempts to make David Cameron look almost as important as he believes

himself to be they have decided to talk up his reception:

‘Mr Cameron is the only foreign leader to enjoy an official visit, complete with state

dinner, to Washington this year. The state dinner tomorrow evening will be attended by

280 guests including actors, sportsmen and business leaders.’

That’s a state dinner, like famous Belgian heroes that was so important they said it twice,

state dinner, OK. So a state dinner then.

Utter tosh, arse gravy and Boris boo-boos of the ultimate order as a cursory glance

through the sort of newspaper the Telegraph aspires to be will show.

Although Callme (and I do) has a huge sense of his entitlement to rule, the Americans

decided they had a different opinion on those who inflict their egos on the rest of

the population on the basis of heredity some centuries ago.

According to someone, quite rightly deciding to remain anonymous having been put on

the naughty chair and told to say something  nice about the BRITS, the Washington

Post decided to stick to the facts, and not a little gloating:

‘D.C. protocol geeks will be throwing their weight around this week, smugly telling

you why Wednesday’s state dinner for U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron isn’t a “state

dinner” at all.

Why? Because “state dinners” and “state visits” are reserved for heads of state — and

in the case of Great Britain, that’s still Queen Elizabeth’
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GlaxoSmithKline boss pay packet near doubles(Telegraph)- drug dealing apparently

recession-proof in the City and the inner-city.

Now it’s their country, it must be their language, too(Telegraph) – ‘English is my

second language and every now and then, it shows’, I thought there must have been an

explanation for your performance on BBC.

‘Proof’ long lost da Vinci lies behind Florence painting(Telegraph) – major discovery

during cleaning in the old studio where they filmed the Magic Roundabout - cue music

‘Worried about a sexual fetish?’ (The Sun) – Maybe you should have a word with Frank

Field, Deirdre

‘ Senior Labour MP Frank Field wants to nail evil killers in Syria’ (The Sun) – don’t

go there

‘BIC Standing Secretariat’ (Number 10) – would that be the quango for ball-points or

razors?

Generous Benefits System;Yet another Right-wing Myth

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 13, 2012
Posted in: benefits, Factual, Government, tax avoidance /evasion. Tagged: , , .

Divided we Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising (link)

Income inequality among working-age persons has risen faster in the United Kingdom than in any other
OECD country since 1975. From a peak in 2000 and subsequent fall, it has been rising again since 2005 and is now
well above the OECD average.

Analysis

Top income shares doubled. The share of the top 1% of income earners increased from 7.1% in 1970 to 14.3%
in 2005 [Table9.1]. Just prior to the global recession, the top 0.1% of top earners accounted for some 5% of
total pre-tax income. At the same time, the top marginal income tax rate saw a marked decline: dropping
from 60% in the 1980s to 40% in the 2000s, before its recent increase to 50%.

Transfers and taxes became less redistributive. Between the the late 1970s and mid 1980s, the tax-benefit system in the UK offset more than 50% of the rise in market income inequality. This effect has fallen in the subsequent decades.

Benefits became less redistributive despite being more targeted towards the poor. This was largely driven by declining benefit amounts. It was also due to more people working, often at low-wage jobs and so not qualifying for benefits. And lastly due to tighter eligibility conditions.

Taxes became less equalising. Reduced progressivity has cut the redistributive effect of income taxes approximately by half. Lower progressivity was due in part to the removal of the higher-rate tax brackets and a reduction in the basic tax rate.

But public services improved their impact on reducing inequality. Social spending in the UK relies more on public services (such as education, health etc.) than on cash transfers: spending on services amounts to over 15.4% of GDP while spending on cash transfers is some 10% [Figure8.1]. These services reduce inequality more than almost anywhere else, and this impact has increased over the 2000s.

Recommendations

Reforming tax and benefit policies is the most direct instrument for increasing redistributive effects. Large and persistent losses in low-income groups following recessions underline the importance of government transfers and well-conceived income-support policies.

The growing share of income going to top earners means that this group now has a greater capacity to pay taxes. In this context governments may re-examine the redistributive role of taxation to ensure that wealthier individuals contribute their fair share of the tax burden.

The provision of freely accessible and high-quality public services, such as education, health, and family care, is important.

Benefits Claimants who Cheat the System

Posted by soiniciulacht on March 13, 2012
Posted in: accountability, Factual, Legislation, tax avoidance /evasion. Tagged: , , , .

The Biggest Benefits Claim in the World?

The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.

Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.