How Much of Your Income Has Been Redistributed to the Rich?

Do you ever wonder how much of your income has been redistributed to the rich since 1980? How much would you be earning now if the rich were only getting the same share of our total national income as they did back in 1980 or so? Back then the 1 percent stole only about 8 to 9 percent. We got the rest.

Now, thanks to the entire corrupt Republican Party, and the vast majority of corrupted Democratic Party politicians, the rich are officially stealing anywhere from 24 to 37+ percent of the total national income, depending on whose figures you are using. This is thanks in large measure to such Democratic Party politicians as Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden, as well as both Clintons’.

We can use Oregon as an approximate gauge for the entire nation since Oregon is only slightly above average in personal income compared to other states.

The figures in the graph above show that the typical Oregonian would be earning “nearly 3 times as much” today “had inequality remained at the 1980 level. Oregon’s actual median income in 2014 was $33,484, compared to $29,150 nationally.

In 2014, the average working Oregonian would have earned about $92,050, or nearly three times as much, had the 1 percent been only stealing from the rest of us at the same rate as they had been back in 1980. That suggests the average US citizen would have been earning around $83,000 a year in 2014, rather than the paltry $29,150.

Imagine how strong the demand for goods and service would be today for the 99 percent if the 1 percent had not rigged each of the three branches of the US government in their favor through corrupt politicians in both major political parties, and their complete corruption of the United States Supreme Court. (See the-editorial-the-rich-dont-want-you-to-read-corruption-of-the-united-states-supreme-court-what-the-rich-and-their-corporate-so-called-news-media-dont-want-you-to-know–JohnHively.Wordpress.com for more on this.)

When inflation is factored into income growth, notice which economic class has gotten the big raises since 1980 in the graph below, and which has not. Note also that the information presented is based on income tax returns, so the US rich have gained quite a bit more than it appears since they have stashed trillions of dollars abroad in Switzerland, Panama and elsewhere.

This means the real income gains of the rich are vastly understated. Thank you Ron Wyden. Thank you Bill Clinton. Thank you Hillary Clinton. Thank you all of you bought off Democrats and Republican politicians. Thank you corrupted US Supreme Court

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Raising Corporate Taxes: Oregon and the New Tax Revolt

Oregon is ranked dead last among the fifty states in corporate taxes. That’s why Measure 97 is on the ballot come election day in November. The top federal corporate rate is 35 percent, yet many corporations making billions of dollars a year each pay little or no taxes. In many cases, corporations receive federal tax rebates by the billions on taxes they never paid. That means the effective tax rate for many major corporations is negative. This explains another reality; US corporations are the least taxed of any major industrialized nation, regardless of the myths and lies thrown out by the Fox Propaganda and other networks.

Corporations like Nike currently own such Oregon politicians as Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden, Wall Street congressional representatives Earl Blumenauer, Greg Walden, Suzanne Bonamici and Kurt Schrader. These representatives are always voting to redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent on behalf of big corporations. Corporations should be made to pay higher state taxes in Oregon in order to pay the people of Oregon for the use of their politicians.

When you total up all the taxes businesses really pay, and compare that amount to the total corporate profits generated in the state, liberal Oregon is dead last. That’s the best way to compare effective tax rates. Other rankings, like those published by the Tax Foundation, ignore the actual amount of taxes companies pay and focus instead on incidental factors.

Most state rankings have a fair degree of variability, with states jostling around a bit in the rankings year to year. That Oregon has remained at the bottom of these rankings for the past three years is a strong sign of just how little corporations pay in taxes in the state, compared to the profits they make in the state.

While Oregon lets big corporations skate by and pay low minimum taxes, the state’s schools and services remain critically underfunded. If Oregon’s corporate tax collections were in line with the rest of the country, Oregon would have the revenue it needs to fund strong schools and services that will grow our economy and help hard-working Oregonians get ahead, protect their health, and retire with dignity.

Measure 97 is the solution to Oregon’s low corporate taxes. By focusing a tax increase only on large C corporations, those doing more than $25 million in Oregon sales, Measure 97 will raise significant revenues for the investments that grow Oregon’s economy, all while protecting smaller businesses that are already paying their fair share.

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Bernie Sanders Wins in Oregon, But Did Vote Fraud Give Hillary the Win in Kentucky?

Tuesday night, Bernie Sanders was declared the winner of the Democratic Party primary in Oregon. Bernie won 55 to 45 percent. Sanders won every Oregon county save for one. The tally from Gilliam County: Bernie Sanders 100, Clinton 101. With the outcome in Oregon, the senator from Vermont won his third victory in three weeks and put 20 states in Sanders’ column.

After discovering he won Oregon, Sanders told a rally of 11,168 supporters at California State University, Dominquez Hills, “This is the beginning of the final push to win California…There are a lot of people out there who say Bernie Sanders should drop out, the people of California should not have the right to determine who the next president will be,” he said. “We are in this until the last ballot is counted … and then we’re going to take that fight to Philadelphia,” he added.

Meanwhile, in the other primary taking place that night, Kentucky, Hillary Clinton was declared the winner after nearly 2,000 votes were mysteriously shaved from Sanders tally. Perhaps they were given to Clinton, which would then account for her slim margin of victory. 

Bernie was still ahead by a couple thousand votes with 93 percent of precincts reporting. But then, strange as it may seem, Hillary steamrolled past Bernie and won by the narrowest of margins: 212,500 to 210,626.

There have been numerous examples of voter fraud during this Democratic primary, Arizona, Iowa, Nevada, and New York, to name a few. Clinton won every one of these states. There has not been an iota of voter fraud in any of the state’s won by Sanders.

One has to wonder how much voter fraud the Wall Street Democratic Party leadership has had to use to keep the Wall Street candidate in the lead.

– See more at: http://en.institutomanquehue.org/publications/news/msnbc-hosts-almost-shit-their-pants-when-salem.html#sthash.et1KCCjB.dpuf

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Oregon Votes On Tuesday: Why I am Voting for Bernie Sanders

By Richard Rodriquez,

It really baffles me how the Democrats have rallied around their wounded candidate ‪#‎WhichHillary‬.

Lowest favorability ratings ever for a candidate at this stage, an ongoing civil lawsuit for freedom of information act (FOIA) violations, an ongoing federal investigation on the miss handling of state secrets, the ongoing ‘little’ question why thousands of emails were deleted off the server she used for official government business (it’s obvious people if you think about it!), the non-release of her paid Wall Street speeches while saying she supports Wall Street reform (you understand why she’s not releasing them right?).

It’s truly baffling.

People are watching though….

I used to be very involved in the Democratic Party. I walked the streets door belling with now U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (WA), I worked hard for U.S. Senator Patty Murray (WA) (I still like her, she’s awesome!), I went to many Democratic conventions, and I’ve been an elected Democratic precinct person (actually had to fulfill my state constitutional responsibilities once!).

How the party got to supporting this wound candidate is really baffling.

All this while Bernie Sanders supports traditional Democratic values; the environment receiving top priority because it threatens our national security, free public university education, Wall Street reforms, healthcare for all citizens, increasing taxes on the rich, putting a stop to endless wars that deplete our national treasure and the lives of our youth.

Traditional modern democratic values.

I blame it on Debbie Wasserman, Chair of the democratic national committee (DNC). She used to work for Clinton.

It’s like Democrats have entered their own echo chamber.
Despite all the support Bernie Sanders has earned with millions of votes, the Democratic Party has denied Bernie supporters from ‘any’ representation on the important Rules Committee for the upcoming National Convention.

What’s with that?

People don’t like change if it impacts their powerbase. But that is exactly what this country needs right now; change in the powerbase.

We The People have to make this happen.

I support Bernie Sanders as the Democratic candidate for president.
I am not paid by anybody to say that.
It’s just the right thing to do.
Oh yeah, I vote.

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How are the Businesses of the City of Seatac Doing Two Years After the Minimum Wage Increase To $15 an Hour

One year after the city of Seatac raised its minimum wage to $15, and after massive outbursts by business leaders of its destructive consequences, K5 News of Seattle reported that the wage increase had not decreased jobs, and in many cases, many businesses have and are expanding.

For example, managers of Cedar Brook Lodge in Seatac threatened to cut jobs if the minimum wage was enacted, but since then, they have expanded their facilities by 63 rooms and increased hiring. Managers at WallyPark, a parking structure, say they’re doing very well. The city manager of Seatac says there are “no noticeable impact on spending or business license applications.”

Most governments phase in minimum wage increases, such as the Seattle city council and the Oregon legislature. Seattle signed into law an increase to $15 an hours in June 2014. Oregon just recently increased its minimum wage to a phased in over six years $14.75 per hour.

The Seatac increase, however, had no incremental phase in period for the minimum wage. It was $15 an hour and charge!

As Seattle’s new minimum wage began to take effect last year, four restaurants closed. Conservative and libertarian news media and think tanks bragged that this was due to the increase in the minimum wage, and they did so without uncovering any facts.

It turns out the claim was false. One restaurant owner said they were simply moving his business to another section of Seattle. Another owner said she was closing one restaurant because she intended to open two others in Seattle. A third owner said the minimum wage increase had nothing to do with closing her business. The fourth owner said the same thing. In the meantime, new restaurants opened in all four locations.

As for who the minimum wage increase actually impacts?

A valet attendant and shuttle driver at a parking company called MasterPark, Sammi Babakrkhil saw his base wage jump from $9.55 per hour, before tips, up to $15. Having scraped by in America since immigrating from Afghanistan 11 years ago, he suddenly faced the pleasant predicament as his co-workers: What to do with the windfall?

For the overworked father of three, it wasn’t a hard question what he would do with an increase in wages. Babakrkhil decided to quit his other full-time job driving shuttles at a hotel down the road. Though he’d take home less money overall, the pay hike at MasterPark would allow him to work 40 hours a week instead of a brutal 80 — and to actually spend time with his wife and three young girls.

“My kids used to not see me,” said Babakrkhil, who notes that the new work arrangement has also afforded him time to start exercising. “Now I make a little bit less, but I’m enjoying my life … I’m happy this way.”

Wait a minute! Sammi quit a job, which means a job opened up due to the minimum wage. That increased employment.

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Another Example of How Income is Redistributed from the 99 to the 1 Percent Via Senator Ron Wyden and the Rest of the Corrupt US Government

Here’s the story.

Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden was elected to represent the people of Oregon in the US senate. Instead, the senator represents Wall Street, along with major out-of-state corporations. This is why Wyden is one of the major tools the rich use in the US senate in their war against the middle class.

That’s precisely why Wyden always votes to redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent via legislatively approved policies falsely marketed as free trade agreements. The latest Wyden income redistribution scam is called the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the largest income redistribution scam from the 99 to the 1 percent in US history.

This month, thanks to Wyden’s votes in the senate, the Newberg Oregon Paper Mill will be closing, resulting in the loss of 250 family-wage jobs and the largest tax source for the Newberg community. In all likelihood, in the next few months most the paper mill closure will cause a domino effect, resulting in the loss of several times as many jobs as those that are lost at the mill, as families are no longer able to afford to go to restaurants, get the car fixed and more, hurting local businesses that these family-wage union jobs support. Offshoring in the private sector also means less tax revenue in the public sector, leading to budget deficits, furloughs and layoffs of public employees, as well as less money for schools, roads, libraries, fire-departments and other critical public services. Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden is directly responsible for this situation through his votes on international income redistribution votes in the US congress.

All products manufactured at the Newberg mill were 100% recycled paper products made from recycled paper and wood gathered from the greater Portland, Oregon area. This mill was one of the last paper recycling facilities in Oregon and the recycled paper and wood once processed there will now likely be shipped and processed in countries with weak environmental policies.

The difference between the old higher US wages and the new lower third world wages will go straight into the already fat pockets of the super rich via higher corporate profits, rising share prices and surging dividends, thanks to Wyden’s votes. And also thanks to Wyden, because the 1 percent are now stealing over 37 percent of all the income in the US, compared to 21 percent in 2008, and 8 percent back in 1980.

What could be worse than this?

The worse-than-NAFTA TPP threatens to offshore more Oregon and US jobs by the millions, further driving down wages and further harming the environment. Wyden has carefully rammed this disaster for Oregonians through the US senate, although most Oregonians oppose it.

Enough is enough. Click here to urge your Member of Congress to vote against the TPP and click here to RSVP for the carpool from Portland to the December 8th rally in Newberg against the TPP.

Join Oregon Fair Trade and other organizations, people and trade-displaced mill workers on Tuesday, December 8th — the anniversary of NAFTA (an income redistribution scam voted for by then Wall Street Congressman Ron Wyden)— to voice Oregon’s opposition to the worse-than-NAFTA income redistribution scam falsely marketed as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement.

Tues, December 8th:

11:00 AM – Photo op outside closing Newberg paper mill

11:30 AM – Speaker’s panel with trade displaced mill workers

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State-by-State, and In Every State: Pew Charitable Trust Reports on the Shrinking Middle Class

The US middle class has been shrinking for decades, but never as rapidly as under the Obama administration. 95 percent of all income growth since 2009 has gone to the super affluent. This means the uber wealthy now steal 37 percent of all income produced in the United States every year, compared to 21 percent in 2009, and 8 percent in 1980. And they’re stealing it from the middle and lower classes. They’re sucking the middle class dry because these rich folks have all the gold, which follows the golden rule. He who has the gold makes the rules. Check out the link below from the Pew Charitable Trust to see how much your senators and congressional representatives have robbed from the middle class and given to the rich. That’s what the rich pay them to do.

The Shrinking Middle Class Mapped State-by-State–Pew Charitable Trust

Take the case of Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden. He is supposed to represent the people of Oregon, rather than the robber barons of Wall Street, but Wyden has led the fight to ship and create jobs overseas, as well as privatization scams. Wall Street Ronnie is no dumb dumb. He knows these things redistribute income from the 99 to the 1 percent. That shows whose side he is on in the war against the middle class. The senator has a 100 percent voting record for shipping and creating jobs overseas. He calls his efforts free trade treaties, but in reality, these deals are designed and negotiated by multi-national corporations to redistribute income, wealth and political power from the 99 to the 1 percent. The senator has also proposed measures to redistribute Medicare benefits from the 99 to the 1 percent via a privatization scams. He claims he is bipartisan, but he has never led a Republican to successfully support legislation that reverses his shameful income redistribution policies.

Wyden voted for NAFTA and every income redistribution treaty since. He’s the Democratic senator who led the fight in favor of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), the largest income and political power redistribution treaty ever. The result of the senator’s work in the halls of congress are evident:

In Oregon,

• 47.7 percent of all people live in middle class households as of 2013, compared to 51.4 percent in 2010. Rest assured, when the numbers are compiled for 2014 and 2015, the number of people living in middle class households will be less than in 2013.
• medium income has declined from $50,251 per household per year in 2013, compared to an inflation adjusted $56,382 in 2000. Worse yet, the medium family income has declined. The senator has voted to redistribute that $6,000 a year to the 1 percent year after year.
• Poverty is up.
• The 1 percent now steal 37 percent of all income made in the USA, compared to 10 percent when Wyden entered congress over twenty disastrous years ago.

Luckily, people are organizing in Oregon because they’re fed up with the disastrous policies of one of Wall Street’s favorite employees, that’s Wyden.

Wyden is in a dominant position inasmuch as he and the local corporate propaganda machine hide his economic legislative record by extolling the virtues of his social issues. However, Kevin Stine, a Medford city council member is running in the primary against Wyden. Wyden’s disastrous economic policies, bad for Oregonians and good for Wall Street, have begun to come out and his position is not so secure anymore.

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Breaking News the Corporate Media Suppressed: The People Strike Back Against the 1 Percent: Monsanto and GMOs Defeated by Oregon Organic Farmers as Federal Judge Upholds Seed Ban In Jackson County

Last year, the citizens of Jackson County Oregon voted to ban the planting of GMO crops because the pollens from those poisons tended to fly with the wind and contaminate organic crops. Monsanto, using GMO farmers, challenged the right of voters in court to secure their livelihoods with the ordinance banning the GMO poisons.

Last Friday, Federal Magistrate Judge Mark Clarke dismissed the legal challenge brought by commercial farmers who use Monsanto’s genetically modified alfalfa seeds. The GMO farmers claimed the anti-GMO ordinance violated their right to farm.

However Judge Clarke concluded that exactly the opposite was the case. He held that the county’s no-GMO seed ordinance could take effect this week, citing earlier state legislation that protected commercial farms, in this case organic farmers, from harm from other commercial enterprises, such as the commercial farms whose GMO-laced alfalfa pollen gets carried by the wind and can’t be stopped from tainting organic crops.

“Farmers have always been able to bring claims against other farmers for practices that cause actionable damage to their commercial agriculture products,” Clarke wrote. “The Ordinance, by contrast, is enacted pursuant to section 30.935 [of state law], and serves to prevent such damage before it happens.”

After Jackson County banned the use of GMO seeds, Monsanto and other GMO poison manufacturers successfully lobbied the state legislature of Oregon to ban the banning of GMO seed planting on the county level, but excluded the already voted on Jackson County ordinance. Now, however, with this ruling, the state ban on the other counties appears to violate the equal protection clause of the US Constitution, and it will likely be rendered moot, as another county in Oregon voted to ban the planting of GMO seeds, and is currently pursuing its claim to do so in court.

A spokesperson for the Coalition of Organic Farmers in Jackson County said via email, “We just learned this afternoon that we have WON the Monsanto-backed legal challenge attempting to overturn our Jackson County ban on genetically engineered crops. The court upheld the Ordinance on the grounds that it was intended to protect against damage to commercial agricultural products, which is allowed under the Right to Farm Act, and because it was expressly allowed by the Oregon Legislature.

“While this is an incredible victory for family farmers standing up to the GMO giants, we do know there is a real chance Monsanto and their ilk could appeal this decision so the battle is not really over yet,” the email said. “Also, the Plaintiffs’ claims that the GMO ban constitutes a constitutional “taking” will now have to be litigated in the second phase of the case.”

Expect Monsanto to encourage and fund local GMO farmers to appeal Clarke’s decision to a federal appeals court, meaning this fight is not finished.

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How Finland Keeps Kids Focused, and Their Test Scores the Highest in the World, and Why the USA will learn absolutely nothing from the Finish success story

Finland has the highest performing K-12 students in the world, year after year.

“Finland’s schools weren’t always so successful. In the 1960s, they were middling at best. In 1971, a government commission concluded that, poor as the nation was in natural resources, it had to modernize its economy and could only do so by first improving its schools. To that end, the government agreed to reduce class size, boost teacher pay, and require that, by 1979, all teachers complete a rigorous master’s program.

They also banned all standardized testing, as they figured out this takes too much time and too much money out of learning; and now they only give standardized exams to statistical samples of students to diagnose and assess school progress.”

For every 45 minutes of study, Finish students get 15 minutes of free time recess.

In the United States, recess has been curtailed, and in some cases, eliminated.

The average class size in Finland is 19. Teachers are highly respected, highly paid, and highly unionized. So what can the United States learn from Finland?

Absolutely nothing.

That’s because education reform in the USA has nothing to do with education. It’s all about corporate profits, campaign contributions, government corruption, and ever rising profits for the publishing industries. Public K-12 students are merely victims in the profit production process through which these aims can be achieved.

This is why the US has the most tested students in the world. The more tests they complete, the more profits for the publishing corporations, such as Pearson Limited and McGraw-Hill.

This is why educational test standards are always raised in the United States. The higher the standards, the more students fail to pass. Then they must retake another profitable test over and over again until they move up a grade or pass it. The more students fail these tests, the more profitable they are for the testing industry.

Tests are changed every few years because it’s more profitable than retaining them. When school districts change tests, each district must purchase new testing materials from the publishers. In the United States, students are part of the production process for producing profits, and keeping share prices of the publishing giants rising constantly, quarter after quarter.

So don’t expect any real educational reform in the US anytime soon since real educational reform by definition means lower profits for the publishing corporations, which means less money with which to corrupt government. So don’t expect anything to change in education in the US anytime soon. The corruption of government at all levels is far too massive.

Just look at Wall Street Senator Ron Wyden who betrayed the voters of Oregon on behalf of Monsanto and Wall Street when he co-sponsored Fast Track legislation in the senate for the massive income redistribution scam called the Trans Pacific Partnership which Wyden falsely markets as a trade agreement. Wyden once wrote a constituent who wrote to him to complain about the Common “Very Profitable” Core Standards. Wyden wrote back, “Please rest assured that I will continue to do all I can on the federal level to ensure Oregon students receive the highest quality education….” Wyden’s letter shows he supports the Common Very Profitable Standards, which demonstrates how corrupt he is in all areas in which income is redistributed from the 99 to the 1 percent. See Wyden’s letter at, http://oregonsaveourschools.blogspot.com/2014/06/sen-ron-wyden-doesnt-get-it-on-common.html .

Wyden’s idea of students receiving “the highest quality education” is to increase the profits of the publishing corporations, which is another way of enriching the 1 percent at the expense of the 99 percent. In other words, less recess, more tests, and higher standards, which is another way of saying the senator wants all students to be on a college track, even if they had no desire to be on such a track.

Income redistribution from the 99 to the 1 percent; that’s precisely what Wyden does as much as anybody ever has in the US senate. That’s why he supports standardized testing of public school students, as well as Fast Track and the Trans Pacific Partnership. http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/

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Oregon’s Radical Innovation: Make Democracy Easy | BillMoyers.com

Here is a novel notion: Why not make democracy easy? That’s too easy. That would help to un-rig the political and economic game currently in favor of the affluent.

Why not take the trouble out of registering to vote — and out of voting?

The answer is simple. Some people of the 1 percent want as few people as possible to vote. The fewer voters there are, the easier it is to win elections, and then to control the government to the benefit of the 1 percent, but at the expense of the 99 percent.

Last week, Oregon legislators made it easier to vote in Oregon, and the governor signed the bill into law.

Other countries, where voter turnout is dramatically higher than in the United States, craft their laws to encourage voting. In the United States, the trend has been in the opposite direction for the reason stated above; control over the masses. Who wants the masses to control government? How about the majority of voters.

Click on the link below for the full story.

Oregon’s Radical Innovation: Make Democracy Easy | BillMoyers.com.

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