Still more thoughts about - A New Day

Today, we turn to Shelia Bair, former Chairperson of the FDIC.  Currently, on the Board of Santander Bank, a Spanish, based in Boston, MA, with extensive holdings in Europe.

"Apple, GE, Caterpillar, Google.  These are marquee names in the drama of foreign tax dodges.  But really, can you name one top U.S. corporation that hasn't moved some portion of its business out of this country to reduce its tax bill?

Like it or not. foreign tax havens have become a routine part of American business.  Maybe it is time for government to throw in the towel.  For 25 years, we have left the top corporate rate at 25%, while other smarter countries have cut theirs.  Corporate tax revenues have eroded, while millions of jobs and billions of dollars in profits have left our shores.

Is a corporate income tax even feasible in a globalized and digitized economy?  We aren't taxing something tangible like people or property, but rather an extremely portable legal structure.  It is kind of dumb to impose high corporate taxes on doing business here when it is so easy for companies to go somewhere else - where labor is probably cheaper too.  By eliminating corporate income taxes, we ease pressure on U.S. wages, bring back jobs and repatriate an estimated $2 billion in profits stashed elsewhere.

Many will argue that this would be a giveaway to the rich.  But the current system isn't taxing rich shareholders.   It is taxing the corporate entity - and much of that tax is passed on to employees and customers.  Today's policies actually favor the wealthy with lower taxes or capital gains and dividends to mitigate the impact of double taxation.  It would be smarter to tax corporate profits once, at the shareholder level, and apply the same, higher taxes to capital gains and dividends that apply to us working stiffs.

The corporate income tax may apply to our inner Robin Hood, but its economic impact has turned it into a Greek tragedy.  It is time to bring down the curtain."

Where has this lady been?  Yes, I know, lolling away in a plush government job - at the FICA, but now apparently, she has moved her knowledge and obvious expertise to a bank were she is probably making much more money, and would probably be dealing with - and gaining more intimate knowledge of, the minds of foreign bankers and banking systems.  Good career move.

Meanwhile, our politicians are typically ignorant of the way the world works - aside from their armed forces and the potential for danger, if aimed at our shores.

I certainly know even less that they do, but I do know that she obviously has her facts right and they seem to be ignored in the halls of Congress and within the inner workings of the White House.

Next time you hear someone boasting in our financial integrity and the health of our economy. send him or her a copy of the above and ask for their opinions on the subject. 

February 8, 2014

For many years, I have admired the talents of Leonard Pitts, the journalist whose columns appear regularly on the pages of the Miami Herald.   I happen to be a white man with a limited number of black friends even though my experiences date back to the 40's when I was given a rare privilege to assist in the integration of blacks into the United States Air Force.  Growing up on a farm in Michigan there had been none in our communities and the only things I had ever heard of them were not kind.  I would soon learn that those remarks were not based on reason, but prejudice.

So it was when I first encountered Leonard, I was eager to learn even more about the thoughts and intention of blacks and I would soon discover, more often than not, he and I were brothers when it came to assessing the worth of others.  In fact, typically, I was the student sitting at the feet of a master.

Perhaps you can understand my confusion when I read one of Leonard's latest columns.

Appearing in the Cookeville Herald-Citizen on February 5, under the title:  "Sincerest sympathy to the filthy rich", it was Pitts' response to a letter written by Tom Perkins, co-founder of a extremely successful enterprise known as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, appearing recently in the Wall Street Journal.  I haven't read the Journal in years because I have been offended by the changes that followed the sale of what used to be - in my opinion, one of the nation's great newspaper, so I don't know all that Perkins had to say, but I can read Pitts' remarks and I am offended.

Perhaps he had nothing to say about the headline in one of my favorite newspapers, but using the words - filthy rich, suggests to me that it will only be read by those among us who do not seem to realize that among the wealthy in our nation, you will find many who are dedicated to the lives of fellow citizens, folks like you and me and others.

I have had the distinct privilege to meet people like Tom Perkins in my years and I have reached the conclusion, many are a lot like the people I have met working as a Supervisor in Rescue Missions.
Given an opportunity to read the pages of the Wall Street Journal and reading Perkins' article, I have to imagine that most would laugh and let others know, ..."if he thinks he has it bad, he ought to walk in my shoes for a few weeks."

Money makes a difference in the lives of people who have inherited or have earned lots of it and since they can afford the cost, you can believe that many will invest heavily in the resources offered by the legal profession to protect their assets and actually, diminish their liabilities.

I have also known many who have little to offer in the way of available resources who will purchase an expensive gun to protect what they do have.   I don't see much difference in the two.

What I do know is the fact that as we store up prejudices concerning others, a little here and a little there along the way, it doesn't take long before we reach the inevitable level that allows us to express attitudes towards others that affirms the title of being a bigot.   And since we live in a democracy based on the premise that we are all created as equals, it ill behooves us to belittle others, regardless of our opinions.

I believe I understand Leonard's feelings.  He devotes many of his articles and I have to believe, much of his time, calling our attention to the plight of the poor and dis-enfranchised.  I salute such efforts, but I would hope that the next time he feels that way about the "Perkins" in our nation, he will direct an appeal to any of the thousands of the "rich" among us, encouraging them to talk to their peers who have missed out on the opportunities to actually share what they have.