Sky Diving Off the Fiscal Cliff

It's just this simple--it's us against them.  There are two sets of people in this world--CEO's,  and the people that work for them.  The CEO's are very, very wealthy people and so are their shareholders.  They want to keep all of their money.  They don't want to invest in the country that gave them the opportunity to build their very large corporation.  They expect us to pay for it all, and they've created a seriously large lobbying group to make sure that it happens.

Honeywell CEO Dave Cote

A group of super wealthy CEO's have formed a group that they call the "CEO Fiscal Leadership Council" lead by Honeywell CEO Dave Cote and Goldman Sach's CEO Lloyd Blankfein.  The two of them have gone on a media blitz to tell the country that the best way to pay down the debt is to cut so-called "entitlement" programs.  Have I mentioned that Dave Cote's Honeywell Corporation didn't pay a dime in taxes from 2008-2010?  Nope, not a nickle in taxes, but they got a $34 million rebate from the taxpayers.  Talk about welfare, geez, are you kidding me?  Honeywell enjoyed $5 billion in profits and didn't pay the United States a dime, we paid them.  

Then there's Goldman Sachs, the mega-bank, who received a $10 billion bail out from the federal government (that means you and I--the tax-payers).  Yep, they paid us back (thanks, fellas)!  Goldman Sachs reported 8.4 billion dollars in revenue in the third quarter alone, exceeding Wall Street expectations.  G.S.'s leader, Blankfein thinks that the government needs to "do something, undoubtedly, to lower people's expectations of what they're going to get.  The entitlements, and what people think they're going to get, because you're not going to get it."  

The good news is that Cote of Honeywell realizes that a zero corporate tax rate is not going to fly with the American people, but believes that corporate tax rates should be negligible, "if the US really wants to create jobs."  

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein

It should be mentioned that Blankfein took home a tidy 16.1 million dollars in salary in 2011, and was expected to receive a raise and earn even more this year.  Cote took home a little more than $55 million in compensation for 2011.  He paid around $2.5 million in taxes thanks to the Bush era tax cuts.  

So, after the elections, we learned that we need to be active participants in the political process. Our input to our representative makes a difference.  If we shout loudly enough, they will listen.  We must remind them whom they are working for.  There are a lot more worker bees than there are CEO's.  Of course they're not worried about programs like Social Security and Medicare or Medicaid.  They don't need them. 

 They're fantastically wealthy--but we are not, and we need those programs.  They're not entitlements--they're life-line programs. Programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and Food Stamps are a means of survival for a lot of hard working people.  They are important.  We're cutting funding for important things we desperately need as a society like education, and we're still handing out multi-million dollar checks to corporations with billion dollar profit margins?  What the hell is wrong with this picture?  Our government must do better for us.  They represent US.  Yeah, it's time to end welfare--CORPORATE WELFARE!!

How fair is it that we workers pay higher tax rates than CEO's with their multi-million dollar pay checks?  How fair is it that we have to write a tax check for the privilege of living in this country, but a corporation like Honeywell pays nothing?  The fact that they got a multi-million dollar rebate is just another slap in the face to the good hard working people who pay taxes and make this country work.  WE are the job creators.  WE are the engine of this economy.  It's high time we expected a little bit more from the people who benefit from the fruit of OUR labor. 

We have to win this one.  We are at war with giant corporations that believe they don't need to pay a dime to this country and profit off of the benefits of doing business here, making billions off of  government contracts.  They don't want to pay their fair share for anything and instead are trying to make it the sole responsibility of the most vulnerable among us.  

Pick up your phone, send a fax or write an e-mail to your representatives in Congress and tell them you've had enough.  Tell them you believe in shared sacrifice and that the richest among us along with corporations that have enjoyed loop holes in the tax code allowing them to pay zero taxes has gone on long enough. Encourage them to raise taxes on the richest among us. Tell them to end corporate welfare--tell them you've got your eye on them and you're not going to sit idly by and get shafted again.  If they won't work for us, we'll elect someone who will.

Our representatives aren't going to stand up for us if we don't demand they do so.  These CEO's want to throw us off the fiscal cliff while they fly over it in a jet made by Boeing and paid for with tax payer funds.  It's up to us to find our own parachute.  They have theirs, and they're golden.  Enough is enough.  We cannot allow Congress to reduce the deficit on the backs of the poor and retirees and the elderly.  We can no longer sit quietly while our quality of life is diminished and watch the ultra wealthy reap all the benefits the US has to offer.  We have to remain active and engaged in what's going on in our country.  You can find your representatives and contact them by visiting Contacting the Congress.  We have so much to lose and everything to gain by forcing the wealthiest among us and billion dollar corporations to contribute and pay their fair share.