slow news days = hidden discoveries

i love sundays... they make for slow news days where hidden in the reporting are the real gems of the machinations of the agenda of the fascist leadership of this country. perhaps the most relevant to this notion is the reporting on Bush campaign stops. we all know that these are sumptuously staged events complete with scripted ovations and highly detailed set and art direction. most important to this, is the very high scrutiny paid to those attending; signing of affadavits and loyalty oaths and such. so it really should start to get us grievously concerned when even the media are forced to show a scene all too reminiscent of italy and germany in the 30's. Huge choruses of staged chants, responding to key words and phrases used in the robotic cadence of the new duce of the neo-feudal lords of capital.

what we have is a shift in the cognitive function of a considerable portion of the electorate. these people can not possibly comprehend or understand the ramifications and catastrophic affects of this current administration on the nation and the world. they are so filled with zeal and faith and belief that they have lost all core rational thought. they chant and scream and raise their arms on cue as they too become the cloned ditto head robot minions supporting those that will soon simply take off their heads.

this goes as well for the actual slaves of the GOP. i received a form response letter from the Congressman from eastern washington who is running for a US Senate seat. the letter ostensibly is to show how sympathetic the congressman is to the plight of the US economy from the behavior of corporations hiding profits from US taxation. of course the letter fails to mention the report issued this past week that showed that more than $147 billion of previously taxable profits were taken off shore and safe from US taxation. the author of the letter, undoubtedly a staffer who was trying to prove his meddle to the GOP and Tom DeLay rather than trying to actually communicate fact, spent hundreds of words making up some of the most inane verbage i have seen on the issue. I quote a bit:

"what we must do is examine the underlying reason behind inversions: a burdensome and overbearing tax code....
"the US is currently one of the few nations that taxes companies not only on income that is earned on goods that are produced and sold in the US but also what is earned abroad...
"furthermore the US has the fourth highest corporate income tax rate at 40%....
"the loss from these inversions comes in the form of reduced tax revenue--revenue that goes to foreign countries.

taken as a whole these statements are highly self-contradictory... individually they are fraudulent and wrong. inversions in essence have nothing to do with the tax code which currently is more than highly favorable of business.... huge opportunities exist for corporations to use the tax code to significantly increase their after tax profits... the US does not tax profits for overseas operations.. it taxes operations of companies when they bring products into the US.. and it taxes the corporate board members of corporations for their overseas incomes if they live in the US.... the corporate tax rate hasn't been 40% since 1981... it is roughly now running about 17%... and the notion that these companies moved offshore because they wanted to pay foreign taxes is perhaps the most absurd... there are seven nations within a couple thousand miles of the US offering zero taxes at the moment... and most of these are within a couple a hundred.

the most evil part of this letter is the suggestion that "if the US were to institute a less complicated tax structure, like a flat tax or national sales tas, the cost of compliance with the tax code would fall, and America would become more competitve in the global marketplace." this is directly suggesting that through impoverishing the population, we would again provide cheap or slave labor--as a flat tax and a sales tax are the most regressive of all taxes paid by 40% of the poorest people. This letter can't be intended to be read and critiqued. it must be designed to be read by direct supporters. we are all in trouble if these plans are implemented. and they are being so.... HR 4520 reduces corporate tax on income from domestic production activity.. HR 737 which would have taxed offshore US companies was killed... along with HR 2896 and SR 1637 both of which would have increased offshore taxes... can't imagine how this nation, already in deep deficit doo doo is going to be able to survive another four years of this type of national revenue giveaway..