You've been robbed of your job, not by illegals, but by greedy corporations. Did you know you deserve a raise? Did you know you should be paid double your current salary? You should also receive benefits -- medical, dental, vision, vacation and 401K pay.
The reason you don't is because you've been robbed! In 1965, U.S. CEOs in major companies earned 24 times more than an average worker. This ratio grew to 35 in 1978 and to 71 in 1989. [i] It had raised to 243 to 1 in 2010, according to MLive contributor, Jennie L. Phipps. Worker data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but the executive pay data is less reliable. It is derived and extrapolated from 1992 to 2005 data from a Wall Street Journal/William M. Mercer survey of the compensation of CEOs of 350 unnamed industrial and service companies. [ii] While CEO's pay and bonuses continue to rise, the workers' pay has stagnated and has not even kept up with inflation.
Fact: Corporations contribute millions of dollars a year to Congress to keep this inequality in effect.
Fact: Corporations move our jobs overseas to take advantage of slave labor wages, lax environmental laws and no taxes. Yes, no taxes! "Free trade" allows giant multinational corporations to pay zero taxes overseas and zero taxes in America. In 2010, corporate giant GE made a profit of $14.2 billion but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit. [iii]
While I am not in favor of taxes or in raising taxes, there is no sane reason why GE should pay fewer taxes than you and I. As a matter of fact, if GE and other large corporations paid their fair share, you and I could:
- Pay half of what we now pay in taxes
- There would be no more state and federal deficits
Though 11 major corporations paid no federal taxes in the US in 1975[iv], that number more than tripled in the period 2008-2010. [v] Here is the 1975 list:
- Ford Motor Company
- Delta Air Lines
- Northwest Airlines
- Chemical New York Corp.
- Manufactures Hanover Corp.
- Western Electric Co. (a subsidiary of American Telephone & Telegraph Co.)
- Bethlehem Steel Corp.
- Lockheed Aircraft Corp.
- National Steel Corp.
- Phelps Dodge Corp.
- Freeport Minerals Co.
In 1975, the nation's 148 largest corporations paid $20 billion in taxes to foreign governments but only half of that, $10 billion, to the US government.
The eight largest banks in the nation all showed a profit for the year but none paid taxes. Ford Motor Company, by taking advantage of foreign tax credits and investment tax credits, not only was able to avoid paying US income tax for 1974 and 1975, but also actually received a $189 million refund for those years at the taxpayers' expense.
The 2008-2010 report reveals:
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