Candidates for public office, especially at the state and national levels, are never asked this central question of politics: “Since the people are sovereign under our Constitution, how do you specifically propose to restore power to the people in their various roles as voters, taxpayers, workers and consumers?”
Meretricious means “based on pretense, deception, or insincerity.” That makes it the perfect word to describe the creation and spread of Roth individual retirement accounts (IRAs), especially the claim that they’re a plus for the Treasury. Just the opposite: the initial boost from Roths is largely a ruse, and the accounts in fact are a fiscal train wreck.
Let’s see what gives the myth a veneer of truth, why it persists, and what needs to happen to stem the losses that Roths are inflicting on the Treasury—and will be inflicting for decades.
Predictions are that we will soon be seeing the “nuclear option” — central bank-created money injected directly into the real economy. All other options having failed, governments will be reduced to issuing money outright to cover budget deficits. So warns a September 18 article on ZeroHedge titled “It Begins: Australia’s Largest Investment Bank Just Said ‘Helicopter Money’ Is 12-18 Months Away.”
We in the United States need a definition of greed. We need to settle on a figure. Just how much is too much? When does accumulating some become hoarding too much? When does a fat cat become an obese cat?
Is there a chargeable offense in Western jurisprudence, some level of murder, depraved indifference, or, perhaps, reckless disregard of human life (See NY law) that can be ascribed to so-called public servants who inflict undue harm, even death, due to their decision making? Much power and control is in their hands, much potential for abuse, and too much self-serving behavior.
After the election every Westminster politician will have to come and face the reality of the electorate’s judgment. There is no disrespect or disgrace in any politician coming to terms with the democratically expressed position of the electorate. All politicians, those of us who are lucky enough to be elected, chosen by the people, will try to do their best as they see it in the interests of the people who elected them.
— Alex Salmond, ex-First Minister of Scottish Parliament, now running for a seat in Westminster
Wow, here come the arguments, the separations, the divorces, the continuing criminal enterprise of those who believe a vote for Hillary is a vote for mama or your daughter, or for your wife –
A tax break that could be the biggest in America is essentially hidden from view. The break on stock market losses flies under the radar, unseen and uncounted, shifting up to 39.6 percent (the top marginal rate) of investment losses onto the U.S. Treasury.
And nobody suggests that this tax break should be reined in. For that matter, nobody pays it any attention at all.
Let’s see how the break operates, and how it’s totally overlooked. Then let’s give it the scrutiny it deserves—especially with Congress signaling that it might be getting serious about tax reform.
Can such a simple and small action as raising taxes on the extremely wealthy be revolutionary? It seems that these days it can be.
Before chucking it all and moving somewhere off the grid where the oligarchs will never find us, there is one question which should be asked of every American politician seeking office this election cycle.
“Are you in favor of increasing taxes on millionaires? Yes or no.”
For decades corporate shills have terrorized American politicians by, among other things, forcing them to sign pledges not to raise taxes.
Like a neutrino bomb on the landscape of banking, regulation and journalism, the HSBC tax evasion story via its Swiss subsidiary keeps spreading with devastating effect – at least for those whose careers concern it. According to investigative journalist Nafeez Ahmed, who managed to get hold of rather golden whistleblower material from Nicholas Wilson, a “conspiracy of silence” has characterised the treatment of HSBC within the regulatory community, law-enforcement authorities and the media generally.
