During the 1930s a popular song asked, “Brother, can you spare a dime?” Well, that was their depression; we now have our own to focus on.
Oh, wait a minute! Do we really have a depression now? No, that can’t be! The media and the politicos say we had a recession and now we’re coming out of it. Yet, when this writer drives around the cities and towns here in North Central Florida, all one sees are “For Lease” signs where Mom and Pop businesses used to be. I mean, all over!
One reason is that these landlords do not need to go by the old adage of “supply and demand,” meaning that if they cannot get the rental price they want, they must lower the price. Why should they when they can sit on their vacant units and get tax write-offs for loss of income. Funny, when my cafe was suffering from less business we couldn’t write that off our taxes.
We all know about the myriad of foreclosed homes that inundate major parts of our nation. That is “old history” right? What the media fails to focus on is the trend, I mean the major trend, of mega corporations buying up foreclosed and underwater homes for peanuts and making them “rental properties.”
The landlord is not just the individual entrepreneur who was always with us; now it’s mostly the Wall Street corporate giant. And once again, if they need to “sit” on a property for a while, they can write it off rather than lower the rental price.
Imagine if the powers that be really wanted us to get the hell out of this depression. I mean, imagine if the local community (town or city) used eminent domain and bought up all those commercial and residential properties and rented them out at a fairer price? Imagine if then they approached the renter and said, “A percentage of your rent will go into escrow (as part of a possible down payment) in case you decide to buy the unit in the future . . . and we’ll gladly sell it to you once again at a fair price.”
Walmart is our nation’s biggest employer . . . non-union at that. Millions upon millions of folks work in their (and others’) box stores for on average $8.00-$12.00 an hour. The benefits are few and far between, as most of you know, for that is our national trend nowadays.
As my dear departed friend, Col. Bob Bowman, once explained to me after my radio interview with him: “Philip, don’t you understand how it works with Wall Street? When wages and benefits move upward, the market goes down. When wages and benefits stay low the market goes up. Period!”
So, with more of our country’s working stiffs earning $350 to $400 a week, working full-time (or with two part-time jobs to reach that amount) how in hell can someone afford to pay rent (in my community) of $600 to $800 a month for a one bedroom apartment? Do the math. Factor in electric bills, food, clothing, car payments and insurance (if they can even afford a car), gasoline or bus fares, cable bills, phone bills, Internet service, health insurance, doctor and dental bills, costs of prescriptions . . . need I go on? On $350 to $400 weekly!!!!?
Look at how much of our tax money goes for military spending: In 2011 it reached an all-time high of 56 cents of each federal income tax dollar sent to Uncle Sam. Imagine that! More than half of your hard earned money paid in taxes goes to phony wars, overkill weapons, maintaining armies of occupation and the nearly 1,000 bases that we maintain in more than 100 different countries!
Factor that along with the statistic that approximately three out of every 1,000 Americans eachearns more than $1 million a year, with many of them earning tens of millions and even hundreds of millions annually. Yet, they are in the same tax bracket (39.6 percent) as those who earn more than $400,000 a year.
By the way, the top bracket in 1950 on earnings more than $400,000 a year was 84 percent. In 1960 it was 91 percent. In 1970, at $200,000 a year it was 71 percent, and, in 1980, at $ 215,000 a year it was 70 percent.
If one recalls, in all those years the rich still did pretty damn well, didn’t they? After their accountants sharpened those pencils, no one paid even close to the top rate, right? Well, nowadays, at about half the 1970 and 1980 rates, our super rich are doing real well.
Here are figures to astound you: A) In 1976 those earning $9,000 a year or less paid an average of 5.2 percent of their income in taxes. Those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 yearly paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in taxes, and . . . ready for this, those earning $200,000 or more paid only 7.8 percent of their income in taxes. B) In 2000, the figures show that of the total tax collected in the entire USA, 8.5 percent came from corporations, 36 percent came from income taxes and 46 percent came from sales taxes.
Now, if we working stiffs make up the 997 out of every 1,000 that earn less than one million a year, and we do most of the shopping and drive most of the cars that need the gasoline that is so heavily taxed (average of 49 cents per gallon) who do you think accounts for most of that 46 percent of taxes collected nationwide (as sales taxes)?
Perhaps if those 997 of every 1,000 out there ceased to remain apathetic and silent, and stopped voting for the hypocrites that make up both major political parties, we would reach the necessary critical mass. All it takes is to first understand the truth about this empire and its “boom and bust” orchestrated economic cycles.
There is no need to go around shouting “revolution” or “burn baby burn.” No, instead, the best first step is for those of you reading this who agree with this column to focus on LEARN BABY LEARN and teach others the reality of it all.
Bob Dylan understood the serf mentality when he wrote “It’s all right, Ma, I’m only bleeding.” He was also quite confident when he also sang “The times they are a-changing.” Let’s make that happen for all of us working stiffs, OK?
Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Nation of Change Blog, Truthout.org, TheSleuthJournal.com, Worldnewstrust.com, Intrepid Report , The Peoples Voice, Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at PAF1222@bellsouth.net.
RSS
Brother, can you spare a Bitcoin?
Posted on March 6, 2015 by Philip A Farruggio
During the 1930s a popular song asked, “Brother, can you spare a dime?” Well, that was their depression; we now have our own to focus on.
Oh, wait a minute! Do we really have a depression now? No, that can’t be! The media and the politicos say we had a recession and now we’re coming out of it. Yet, when this writer drives around the cities and towns here in North Central Florida, all one sees are “For Lease” signs where Mom and Pop businesses used to be. I mean, all over!
One reason is that these landlords do not need to go by the old adage of “supply and demand,” meaning that if they cannot get the rental price they want, they must lower the price. Why should they when they can sit on their vacant units and get tax write-offs for loss of income. Funny, when my cafe was suffering from less business we couldn’t write that off our taxes.
We all know about the myriad of foreclosed homes that inundate major parts of our nation. That is “old history” right? What the media fails to focus on is the trend, I mean the major trend, of mega corporations buying up foreclosed and underwater homes for peanuts and making them “rental properties.”
The landlord is not just the individual entrepreneur who was always with us; now it’s mostly the Wall Street corporate giant. And once again, if they need to “sit” on a property for a while, they can write it off rather than lower the rental price.
Imagine if the powers that be really wanted us to get the hell out of this depression. I mean, imagine if the local community (town or city) used eminent domain and bought up all those commercial and residential properties and rented them out at a fairer price? Imagine if then they approached the renter and said, “A percentage of your rent will go into escrow (as part of a possible down payment) in case you decide to buy the unit in the future . . . and we’ll gladly sell it to you once again at a fair price.”
Walmart is our nation’s biggest employer . . . non-union at that. Millions upon millions of folks work in their (and others’) box stores for on average $8.00-$12.00 an hour. The benefits are few and far between, as most of you know, for that is our national trend nowadays.
As my dear departed friend, Col. Bob Bowman, once explained to me after my radio interview with him: “Philip, don’t you understand how it works with Wall Street? When wages and benefits move upward, the market goes down. When wages and benefits stay low the market goes up. Period!”
So, with more of our country’s working stiffs earning $350 to $400 a week, working full-time (or with two part-time jobs to reach that amount) how in hell can someone afford to pay rent (in my community) of $600 to $800 a month for a one bedroom apartment? Do the math. Factor in electric bills, food, clothing, car payments and insurance (if they can even afford a car), gasoline or bus fares, cable bills, phone bills, Internet service, health insurance, doctor and dental bills, costs of prescriptions . . . need I go on? On $350 to $400 weekly!!!!?
Look at how much of our tax money goes for military spending: In 2011 it reached an all-time high of 56 cents of each federal income tax dollar sent to Uncle Sam. Imagine that! More than half of your hard earned money paid in taxes goes to phony wars, overkill weapons, maintaining armies of occupation and the nearly 1,000 bases that we maintain in more than 100 different countries!
Factor that along with the statistic that approximately three out of every 1,000 Americans each earns more than $1 million a year, with many of them earning tens of millions and even hundreds of millions annually. Yet, they are in the same tax bracket (39.6 percent) as those who earn more than $400,000 a year.
By the way, the top bracket in 1950 on earnings more than $400,000 a year was 84 percent. In 1960 it was 91 percent. In 1970, at $200,000 a year it was 71 percent, and, in 1980, at $ 215,000 a year it was 70 percent.
If one recalls, in all those years the rich still did pretty damn well, didn’t they? After their accountants sharpened those pencils, no one paid even close to the top rate, right? Well, nowadays, at about half the 1970 and 1980 rates, our super rich are doing real well.
Here are figures to astound you: A) In 1976 those earning $9,000 a year or less paid an average of 5.2 percent of their income in taxes. Those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 yearly paid on average 24.4 percent of their income in taxes, and . . . ready for this, those earning $200,000 or more paid only 7.8 percent of their income in taxes. B) In 2000, the figures show that of the total tax collected in the entire USA, 8.5 percent came from corporations, 36 percent came from income taxes and 46 percent came from sales taxes.
Now, if we working stiffs make up the 997 out of every 1,000 that earn less than one million a year, and we do most of the shopping and drive most of the cars that need the gasoline that is so heavily taxed (average of 49 cents per gallon) who do you think accounts for most of that 46 percent of taxes collected nationwide (as sales taxes)?
Perhaps if those 997 of every 1,000 out there ceased to remain apathetic and silent, and stopped voting for the hypocrites that make up both major political parties, we would reach the necessary critical mass. All it takes is to first understand the truth about this empire and its “boom and bust” orchestrated economic cycles.
There is no need to go around shouting “revolution” or “burn baby burn.” No, instead, the best first step is for those of you reading this who agree with this column to focus on LEARN BABY LEARN and teach others the reality of it all.
Bob Dylan understood the serf mentality when he wrote “It’s all right, Ma, I’m only bleeding.” He was also quite confident when he also sang “The times they are a-changing.” Let’s make that happen for all of us working stiffs, OK?
Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Nation of Change Blog, Truthout.org, TheSleuthJournal.com, Worldnewstrust.com, Intrepid Report , The Peoples Voice, Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at PAF1222@bellsouth.net.