GE, World's Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year

reply to post by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by romanis
reply to post by gatewaywithin

 

you are a slave to the system only if you do nothing to lift yourself up out of social slavery i work a minimum wage job at a recycling plant sorting trash all day i make $498.00 (australian) a week yet i do not see myself as a slave to the system. i see myself as a worker of australia , a father of a 4 month old boy , a provider for a family who depends on me , and a cog in the gears of enviromental sustainability . so my son can have a cleaner world than i have . POINT you are what you make your self

cheers from AUS

interesting, minimum wage in australia ? and 498 aud a week ? so what is 'social slavery' anyway ? i'd call that happiness in slavery.. you think anyone here could have a son with a job like that ? as 'provider' does that mean your fiance doesnt have a job ? not possible here. you think your son will have a cleaner world than you, dream on.. Look at Apple, who puts out another gadget after another, what do you think the wages are in malaysia or wherever they are produced ?

Originally posted by HunkaHunka

Originally posted by Darkmask
reply to post by HunkaHunka

 

probably because you have allot more money left over after taxes. If you make more money you pay more taxes, that's how it works. It seems people who make decent money have no clue how difficult times are for those who don't earn much. It matters not how much you pay in taxes, its how much you have after taxes that matters.

edit on 26-3-2011 by Darkmask because: (no reason given)

What matters is how well you see opportunity.

No one is stuck with their current level of income.... Be entrepreneurial and you can find many more ways to generate as much or more income than you are now.

Don't judge your worth by how much someone pays you currently... Or any other sort of limiting factors....

So many people don't understand how malleable reality really is.... They think that the only thing possible for them is whats happening now... And that is simply not the truth.

hunkahunka, you dont seem to get what darkmask is saying. whatever if you pay 70 grand usd in tax, lets hear how much you have left instead. opportunity ? jezuz.. be entrepreneurial ? year its a world of possibilities. like that tv program 'blood sweat and tshirts' working in india, where both you and I wouldn't make it a single month. so you sound like a firm believe in 'land of opportunities' or 'the am. dream'. its a simple war or the rich vs the poor. sure, noone is stuck with their current income, one could always get a lesser paid job. Or like you, get a better paid job (wanna switch jobs?). you fail to understand that economics and capitalism is based on endless growth. ALL countries talk about growth. ALL there is, is less pay, more work, less sparetime, more worktime, actually accumulation of money, which means poorness in majority

there is minimum wages and big wages and huge wages, theres just maximum life of bills. living cost is crazy many places, while your big wages might be way over-sufficient, that you can actually park any place you like and tolerate a parking ticket.. for majority the regular salary its not enough, especially kids families in here.

cars are taxed 180% on top here of neighbour countries, basically making a fine mercedes worth 40,000 usd be costing 100,000 usd, government scoop the 60 grand - and still they complain they have no money to rinse the streets for snow when its winter. it happens every year, but maybe they thought global warming were helping them

. some people get paid so much that parking tickets of 100 usd is not a problem, and forbid parking here is probably going to expand like it always did. like they think that will 'get the cars out of the city'. like gas price of 2.5 usd per litre (10usd per gallon) will do that ? gas price will rise again, and people who can afford everything from gas to food and shelter wont mind. You wont mind.

meanwhile they shop truckloads of military weapons and gadgets that they 'need'. DK and US are a fine couple, allies - take the WORST of both and couple it together for a great orwellian prophecy, step by step..

"how malleable reality really is" - get of your high horse. entrepeneural is about growth. entrepreneurs here cheat and hire half paid people from outside and give natives jack. whatever position you have, just because you are better off that others doesnt make you or anyone else have an 'endless road of opportunities'. at one day you will find that you actually HAVE to talk like you do, to keep a job in some organisation (which believe in some terms of economics etc etc). that one day your terms of free speech is limited too.

reality here is that politicians here talk on about 'culture' and 'values', reality is that its DEAD. we HAVE no culture here, and no values either, when we send off fighters to other countries, following USA again, its simply because pointing index fingers are usually done by guilty parties. and you sound like you have something to lose the way you are pointing fingers and talk about possibilities.

i read your post a third time, gee! you think the world is going round stil? if would, if we all won the lotto. but money is like water - there is ONLY SO MUCH of it. I wonder what the average salary is in the world.

..just to send my neighbour a letter cost 1.5 usd a letter. and that is BEFORE a 45% rise per 2011 april 1st (not an april fools joke). thank gud for e-cards

now consider having a b.day party for your son with those prices..

what matters is that people like you cannot see what matters.

edit on 27/3/2011 by chapzeroevolve because: bad spelling

reply to post by HunkaHunka


This is the stupidest logic I have ever seen. I used to pay about 8k a year in taxes when I had a job. The average American loses 20% of their total pay in taxes. You pay 70k in taxes and feel free because you bring home the other 80%, 350k a year is what you have to make to pay 70k. You bring home more money every year than a middle class home costs the average American, that's why you feel free.

I've always been poor and never had the connections to get my ideas heard or move up in life beyond my station but I never hated people who made this kind of money until I became friends with a few. Oh dear me I'm sorry if you made 5 million last year and lost half of it to taxes, dear me oh my how can you live off 2.5 million?

Based on my bills and not trying to be an over extravagant prick I can live off 50k a year and live extremely comfortably. Unfortunately America is a socialist country in the sense that the rich help their own and stay that way. How much money do you need to be comfortable and not wishing you could afford a meal or clothes? I think its disgusting people make the money they do. I say no taxes for anyone under 75k a year and 80% taxes for anyone over a half million a year. That's what I think about GE and anyone else who makes that kind of money to hire people to get them tax breaks.

Also as a final comment, I'm not a socialist per say, but I think that the richest country in the world shouldn't have poor people. I also know for that the value placed on money is utterly meaningless unless you can tread on the backs of the lower class to create trinkets for the wealthy. We are hundreds of years past the middle ages but there is still a class system in place. Slavery is wrong but paying someone a bare minimum to ensure your large profits is utter BS. Why doesn't the guy who makes your burger or clean your toilet deserve to live in a house or own a car? Because then the rich wouldn't have a 80x100 master bed room cause god knows you need that much space for a place to be barely conscience.

reply to post by soficrow


I have read there is a Identical GE Reactor in New York somewheres. The Inner chamber is rusting away and is Leaking coolant like a sieve. Is this a Problem, No, It's still full steam ahead.

Any doubts about who OWNS the USA?

Folks get charged fees and interest on their balance due and eventually jailed if they don't pay their taxes. Corporations get 3.2 billion credits and NO taxes due.

Wave your flag and marvel at your "freedoms" sheeple.

George Carlin said it best...



Ain't Amerika grand!!!

Originally posted by Darkmask
It matters not how much you pay in taxes, its how much you have after taxes that matters.

And how much you have after paying for housing, food, health care costs incl insurance, transportation, childcare, utilities, clothing, other necessities. What is considered "middle class" incomes are in reality what recently was considered "poor" incomes. The illusion of maintaining a "middle class" lifestyle was obtained through going into more debt to obtain a house, car, health care, major purchases.

Middle class wealth was sucked upward the past 30 years. What I see as a future problem is the lack of home ownership for today's young people. A home at one time was meant that you could "burn the mortgage" and no longer have to pay for housing expenses when you retire. I will retire with no mortgage; the younger generation may not be able to afford a home and must rent the rest of their life. Today's young people may always have to pay rent, which will take an increasing bite out of their flat retirement income.

To illustrate the housing point. A family member just purchased a house for a little under $1 million dollars; that same house when it was built years ago was considered a "middle class" house, affordable to, say, a teacher's income.

While I wholeheartedly agree that there are entrepreneurial opportunities in the global economy, the fact is that employees are still needed. When a wind farm goes up, someone still needs to install the structures, put in the roads and infrastructure; we can't all own the company.

Yes, the rich are different, and so are their disposable incomes.

GE, World's Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year

LOL! No wonder our company's last CEO was an ex GE CEO, because he's used to managing a company that don't pay corporate taxes! Thanks for that...

reply to post by soficrow


Before I believe you, I would have to see the tax breaks in particular. If they are doing the right thing to get those benefits and in fact getting wealthy because of them, then the system has succeeded. A corporation did things favorable for a benefit. The same system would be valid under giving parents a tax break for children with good grades, or giving small businesses a tax break for using green technologies.

End point is this. Avoiding paying your taxes does not make you wrong. It just means you jumped through the hoops the government wanted you to and now you got a reward. I believe that's called capitalism with a hint of socialism. And honestly I can't see anything wrong with it.

Oh and as for the nuclear reactor, it's certainly put up a lot more than any other reactor could. Again, I fail to see how its their fault. They made the unit. That unit has not yet broken fully, and in fact is still quite intact mostly. What the plant owners do with that unit is their doing.

Originally posted by Gorman91

End point is this. Avoiding paying your taxes does not make you wrong. It just means you jumped through the hoops the government wanted you to and now you got a reward. I believe that's called capitalism with a hint of socialism. And honestly I can't see anything wrong with it.

Whats wrong with it is when you have tons of money with which to influence government, elections, policy both by advertising for candidates and by lobbying, so that you can get tax laws made that favor you, or so that other incentives that lower the cost of doing business come your way. Whats wrong with it is when a democratic government begins to behave in ways which benefit a few non humans at the expense of it citizens, its sovereignty, its own fiscal responsibility to itself, that is a problem.

Lets be clear that this is more than just corporations jumping through the same hoops available to any one. This is corporations have such influence over government policy that they get to make the hoops.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


and more stars
Our notion of right and wrong in this nation has been turned on its head, to our detriment. We have sown the seeds of our own destruction, accomplishing what Osama Bin Laden failed to do.

Companies traded on the market, obligated to returns, should not be tax exempt.

It's a contradiction of priorities, and simply, 'not fair'.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


Well it's quite simple then. Ban entities with more than 1 million dollars from affecting politics. Which I do believe significant things are in place to block that out.

None the less, I'm still not seeing why what you say is wrong. Ideally there would be no taxes. I mean, if you backed the dollar off the GDP, rather than gold or some witch doctor's opinion at the federal reserve, than your labor literally is your wealth. Taxes become useless because a government would be worth its workforce.

reply to post by HunkaHunka


A good man wants to raise a family, and live a healthy life. An evil man wishes to control the others.

“I originally decided to become wealthy as a means of gaining AUTHORITY within my family and small town."

Sound to me like you’re out of touch with the average citizen. I've found most people that are great at making money are mostly selfish psychopaths that don’t relate to rest of society.

They view themselves as "better" because they have money and are in the "upper" class, allowing them to think they should control what others believe or want to do, or forcing us to pay to the big monopolies that control how we live and get around.

You yourself are a slave living in a dream, what they call a house slave, that looks down upon the others because the master lets you have a little more grub or a better blanket to sleep with at night, if you were in your right mind you would say that this lavish lifestyle is beyond what any human needs to have a happy life. This is also all in your mind as you say to the fellow that feels enslaved by the way the system is set up.

It’s called the American dream because you have to be asleep to believe it.

A corporation profits depend on a healthy and educated workforces; good infrastructure; publicly enforced respect for contracts and property rights, and so on. When corporations avoid or evade tax, legally or illegally, they free ride on the backs of the rest of us.

I think people on this thread are being misgudied by there hatred. There is more to this story then GE they don't pay taxes but people are blind and folow like sheeple with no more information than hate them andthey follow. Maybe you should look into this more and see evidence and look for the real problems.

GE does not pay taxes,
NO! corporation pays taxes.

Corporations total there profits then file a K10 in this case showing what share of tax burden goes to each share holder and the share holder pays the taxes.

Now there is a problem. Everybody is supposed to hate unions now. But isn't what corporations do the same as unions. They collective bargin with there share holders to get tax brakes and even political pull for there next deal to get rich but those same corporations try to destroy the common mans attempt to do the same through unions just like them.

If union power of people are to be destroyed shouldn't the same union power of the corporations be destroyed to? Seems only fare. But we are blinded by hate and led like sheeple in another direction to destract us from the truth. So hate them for a false reason they don't pay taxes and not because they get union powers for voteing, campaign contributions, tax breaks and even power over the next bill to go through congress.

The reason the above powers are so bad is because it allows them to put a simple sentence in a bill that cost america billions. Yes I guess the power over the person with a pen in congress is powerful and can make you billions. Just look at Chris Dodds one sentence that cost us billions. The bail out money can be used to pay bonuses to the people who caused the worlds economy to crash.

Take away collective bargining of corporations!!!!

reply to post by JBA2848


Nice explanation post that outlines the true obstacles of small businesses to grow with a truly inventive idea they may be trying to develop because they have a steep hill to climb with a huge unfair tax burden like a load of rocks on their back to haul others don't have because they simply started up the hill before them and got some more friends on the way up to help them maintain the status quo.

reply to post by Gorman91

Oh and as for the nuclear reactor.... They made the unit. That unit has not yet broken fully, and in fact is still quite intact mostly.

Except for that pesky leaking radiation.

...The fault is in the system - pushing for profit over safety - and the corporations who use their substantial power to maintain the system and profit from it.

reply to post by soficrow


Yea, JUST a leak after a 9.1 earthquake, tsunami, and dirty bomb explosion. I'd call that pushing the system to its limits. The fact that it even survived that Earthquake was an accomplishment. The fact that it survived that, a wall of water, and a radioactive bomb, is a miracle. Much less it still being mostly intact. I don't think you fully grasp just how much that thing went through and didn't go into meltdown. And you want to call it a failure? Well come back to me when you find unobtainium that can survive all that.

Originally posted by Gorman91
reply to post by Illusionsaregrander

 

Well it's quite simple then. Ban entities with more than 1 million dollars from affecting politics. Which I do believe significant things are in place to block that out.

You do? What things? Like this?

www.nytimes.com...

WASHINGTON — Overruling two important precedents about the First Amendment rights of corporations, a bitterly divided Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the government may not ban political spending by corporations in candidate elections.

reply to post by skeptic_al


It is about 24 Miles from NYC, and is considered the most vulnerable reactor in the US. Makes me a little scared to be living here.