USA Today: CEO pay soars while workers' pay stalls
CEOs didn’t have to cry poor for long.
April 2, 2011- The heads of the nation’s top companies got the biggest raises in recent memory last year after taking a hiatus during the recession.
At a time most employees can barely remember their last substantial raise, median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 as the executives’ compensation started working its way back to prerecession levels, a USA TODAY analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International found. Workers in private industry, meanwhile, saw their compensation grow just 2.1% in the 12 months ended December 2010, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Two years of scaling back amid tough economic times proved temporary as three-quarters of CEOs got raises in 2010 — and, in many cases, the increases were substantial.
The Nation: Tax Havens: Bigger Than You Think, Closer to Home Than You Imagine
April 1, 2011- Author Nicholas Shaxson (Treasure Islands) does not disguise how he feels about the corporate tax haven system. “It is a hugely regressive force,” he says, adding that it takes money and income away from “ordinary people and [gives] it to the wealthiest members of society.”
By some estimates, the United States loses $100 billion every year to foreign tax havens, though Shaxson emphasizes that most people still don’t really grasp the enormity of the problem. When they hear the term “tax havens,” many people envision a handful of billionaires sunning themselves on a remote beach somewhere, martinis in hands. The real problem is actually much larger and closer to home.
Think Progress: In 2010, CEO Pay Went Up 27% While Worker Pay Went Up 2%
April 1, 2011- Households across the country are still feeling the effects of the Great Recession, with unemployment falling very slowly, while foreclosures are still increasing, along with poverty rates and oil prices. However, one group of Americans is doing very well — corporate CEOs, whose pay is returning to pre-recession levels:
At a time most employees can barely remember their last substantial raise, median CEO pay jumped 27% in 2010 as the executives’ compensation started working its way back to prerecession levels, a USA TODAY analysis of data from GovernanceMetrics International found. Workers in private industry, meanwhile, saw their compensation grow just 2.1% in the 12 months ended December 2010, says the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Huffington Post: Corporations Are Draining America's Vitality
March 31, 2011- Corporate tax dodging is draining the lifeblood from our communities - as we face reckless budget cuts.
Imagine the American economy as a human body, with wealth as its lifeblood. When turned upside-down, the blood all collects in our head and a person will eventually suffer a stroke and die. But if the person is standing upright, the blood is able to circulate freely to all parts of the body, and the person is able to survive and thrive.
The Nation: Time for Fair Share Politics
March 31, 2011- The lunatics are running the asylum that is Congress.
At a moment when nearly two-thirds of US corporations don’t pay any federal income taxes, and companies are sitting on trillions in cash while refusing to hire new workers, the only thing we hear when it comes to tax reform is that we need to cut the corporate tax rate.
You just can’t make this stuff up.
Yet it’s par for the course in this take-no-prisoners, slashonomics budget debate, where fighting to protect programs that help people get basic needs like housing, healthcare and heat is derided, but no corporate loophole is left unprotected. The debate in Washington has almost always been out of touch with the realities of people’s lives, but that gap has now widened into a gulf—perhaps greater than we’ve seen in generations.
Yet I still have hope.
Think Progress: Jamie Dimon Endorses Dodd-Frank
March 31, 2011- Nothing beats a fine whine from our Galtian overlords:
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, launched a broadside against financial regulation on Wednesday, warning that new capital rules could be “the nail in our coffin for big American banks”. [...]
Mr Dimon’s comments come as Wall Street executives and Republican members of Congress are starting to attack regulation as anger at the financial industry subsides. On Tuesday, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, wrote in the Financial Times that the Dodd-Frank financial reforms risked creating “the largest regulatory-induced market distortion since America’s ill-fated imposition of wage and price controls in 1971”.
Mother Jones: Wall Street and the Public
March 31, 2011- Matt Yglesias points us to today's Financial Times' report on Jamie Dimon's latest predictions of doom for big finance:
Jamie Dimon, chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, launched a broadside against financial regulation on Wednesday, warning that new capital rules could be “the nail in our coffin for big American banks”.
....Restrictions on debit card fees charged to retailers are also coming under attack in Congress....“It basically penalises us for having debit cards,” he said. “I think it was very unfairly done in the middle of the night with no facts and analysis whatsoever. This is not the way legislation should be done.”
Alternet: An Open Letter to CBS' 60 Minutes Following Its Pitch for More Corporate Handouts
Under the veneer of exploring tax havens, a March 27 segment came across as a justification for corporations that fail to pay taxes.
March 30, 2011- Your report on the corporate tax rate and new tax havens March 27 (“A look at the world’s new corporate tax havens”) was a stunning disservice to all the Americans who are harmed by a national budget that is seriously distorted by the failure of so many U.S. corporations to pay their fair share.
Under the veneer of exploring tax havens, the segment comes across as a justification for those corporations that fail to pay taxes, while giving a sympathetic voice to corporate CEOs who think they should be paying even less.
Truthout: Wal-Mart's Washington Shock Doctrine
April 1, 2011- Washington, DC, is a city often maligned as a corrupt cesspool synonymous with horse-trading, dishonesty and subterfuge. But those of us who hail from DC know that the city itself has a certain something to it, despite that famous John F. Kennedy (JFK) quote about it being of "northern charm and southern efficiency." And Washingtonians are proud of the quainter aspects of their burg, which, if tourists are interested, are actually there for them to see, should they dare venture beyond inner-Babylon and the outer perimeter of the Smithsonian crawl. Sure, malfeasance on the local level and a rough modern history (thanks for the crack, Ronny. Have an airport) might make JFK's nugget of wisdom more poignant than the late president ever could have imagined .
Buzzflash: What Are We Doing Subsidizing Corporations Through Tax Giveaways?
March 31, 2011- It's tempting to blame government for our middle-income 15-20% tax rates. But the true culprits have documented their own guilt. Comprehensive financial reports called '10-Ks' are issued annually to the SEC by U.S. corporations. Amidst tedious pages of income, flow, and outgo, company accountants deftly balance management's desire to impress stockholders with the need to avoid self-incrimination.
PayUpNow.org has documented recent corporate tax activity from the 10-Ks. We took non-deferred federal tax payments over the past three years and analyzed the figures to determine which companies and industries consistently meet or avoid their obligations. The entire dataset is available on the PayUpNow.org website.
