GE, World's Largest Corporation, Paid Zero Dollars in U.S. Taxes Last Year

reply to post by Gorman91


Well worth reading:

The nuclear industry is a snake-oil culture of habitual misrepresentation, pervasive wishful thinking, deep denial, and occasional outright deception.

When nuclear reactors blow, the first thing that melts down is the truth.

From Dr. Moret's 2004 article in the Japan Times:

Of all the places in all the world where no one in their right mind would build scores of nuclear power plants, Japan would be pretty near the top of the list.

The Japanese archipelago is located on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, a large active volcanic and tectonic zone ringing North and South America, Asia and island arcs in Southeast Asia. The major earthquakes and active volcanoes occurring there are caused by the westward movement of the Pacific tectonic plate and other plates leading to subduction under Asia.

Japan sits on top of four tectonic plates, at the edge of the subduction zone, and is in one of the most tectonically active regions of the world. It was extreme pressures and temperatures, resulting from the violent plate movements beneath the seafloor, that created the beautiful islands and volcanoes of Japan.

Nonetheless, like many countries around the world - where General Electric and Westinghouse designs are used in 85 percent of all commercial reactors - Japan has turned to nuclear power as a major energy source.

Ed to add:

FYI - One relatively risk-free alternative to GE technology is thorium - but because safety is not and never was the primary concern, GE's power plays and uranium won out.

reply to post by JBA2848


Im all for it. I absolutely think the corporate form should be outlawed.

Although corporations do not really exist to bargain for favorable tax treatment for its investors. Initially they were intended to pay HIGHER taxes than individuals in part to offset the real benefit of the corporate form, the absolute protection of the owners (shareholders) personal wealth from liability for the actions of said corporation.

In other words, you can get rich poisoning people and the planet and no one can ever sue YOU.

And yes, yes, I know many will argue, "but the corporations can be sued." To which I both refer you back to my original point, that corporations have undue ability to influence the government, and I introduce as new evidence, exhibit a,

www.towardfreedom.com...

Cabranes ruled that transnational corporations who participate in gross human rights abuses cannot be held responsible for torture, genocide, war crimes and the like because, as corporations, their activities fall outside the jurisdiction of international law. The Pan-African Newswire described the court’s opinion as a corporate licence to kill. Judge Pierre Leval, also of the Second Circuit, issued a dissenting opinion describing the Cabranes ruling as an unprecedented ‘blow to the efforts of international law to protect human rights’.

Corporations have the power to make the laws and control the people intended to regulate them. Coupled with the fact they are designed to seek profit at all costs, with no regard for human life or well being, and there is no way to hold the people profiting from them liable for their actions, they need to be banned.

reply to post by soficrow


Sorry, you're not convincing me. All this is still tenfold safer than oil and her lovely habit of burping up mini Apocalypses whenever she fails. Nothing in japan now with the reactor compares to the gulf oil devastation.

In addition, you've not backed your reasoning. Common sense goes against what you say. Thorian is many times more abundant and available than uranium, and easier to get. There is no economical benefit from using uranium. Either the technology is not good enough, or simply not yet ready to be used.

The fact is, Japan just went through an apocalypse in its own right. Do you even have the slightest idea how worse it would be if that nuclear power planet was an offshore oil platform or something? No matter how bad it is, it's still safer and better than oil.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


Yes? That JUST happened. surely you are not going to claim that all our woes are because of one law that JUST got overturned not even a year ago?

I'll give you a hint. These problems have been forthcoming for longer than a few months ago.

Originally posted by Gorman91
reply to post by Illusionsaregrander

 

Yes? That JUST happened. surely you are not going to claim that all our woes are because of one law that JUST got overturned not even a year ago?

A) you clearly arent reading that ruling for comprehension. Lets assume, and I will, that you are too lazy to click the link and read the entire thing, and then do a little more research on your own on top of that so you have an informed opinion. Lets assume, and I will, that all you did was read the little snippet I posted. You arent even understanding the little snippet. Try again.

Originally posted by Gorman91
I'll give you a hint. These problems have been forthcoming for longer than a few months ago.

edit on 27-3-2011 by Gorman91 because: (no reason given)

B) Let me give YOU a hint. No one is arguing that this is all because of recent court rulings but you. There have been DECADES of lesser rulings leading up to this, decades of influencing politicians, decades of promoting this judge over that one, this has been going on for a long time. This recent decision is just the final nail in the coffin of democracy in the US. It is the coup de gras, not the whole enchilada.

I am merely pointing out that your statement that you believe there are things in place to keep corporations from unduly influencing government demonstrates you have no real knowledge of the facts. You "believe" that because you are not informed on the issue in any meaningful way. If you HAD been interested in the facts, all along, you would know this has been a sustained and deliberate assault by corporations on the institutions intending to regulate them and the US itself as a sovereign democratic nation for at LEAST 50 years.

You need to do more than believe. You need to educate yourself. This isnt some trivial matter, like whether or not the town mascot is going to be a gopher or a hedgehog. What is happening right now around the world with democracy and corporatization could literally mean life or death for millions of people in the next decade or so.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


I saw that. And I know it's been adding up for some time. But one can only blame yourselves. Because you could vote them in or out. It has, in the end, always been in your power to remove them or not, People are clearly happy with the way things are and until they don't have their car tv and basic human rights, they aren't really doing any worse than any other government for the last eons. But rest assured they are trying to grab power and will fail because of it.

Originally posted by soficrow
reply to post by Gorman91

 

Well worth reading:

The nuclear industry is a snake-oil culture of habitual misrepresentation, pervasive wishful thinking, deep denial, and occasional outright deception.

When nuclear reactors blow, the first thing that melts down is the truth.

From Dr. Moret's 2004 article in the Japan Times:

Of all the places in all the world where no one in their right mind would build scores of nuclear power plants, Japan would be pretty near the top of the list.

The Japanese archipelago is located on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, a large active volcanic and tectonic zone ringing North and South America, Asia and island arcs in Southeast Asia. The major earthquakes and active volcanoes occurring there are caused by the westward movement of the Pacific tectonic plate and other plates leading to subduction under Asia.

Japan sits on top of four tectonic plates, at the edge of the subduction zone, and is in one of the most tectonically active regions of the world. It was extreme pressures and temperatures, resulting from the violent plate movements beneath the seafloor, that created the beautiful islands and volcanoes of Japan.

Nonetheless, like many countries around the world - where General Electric and Westinghouse designs are used in 85 percent of all commercial reactors - Japan has turned to nuclear power as a major energy source.

Ed to add:

FYI - One relatively risk-free alternative to GE technology is thorium - but because safety is not and never was the primary concern, GE's power plays and uranium won out.

edit on 27/3/11 by soficrow because: (no reason given)

Clearly financial risk is more important than safety. That's what we're taught in college.
As long as business ethics or popular support allow it, even if only for the implementation period. It's A-Okay to overlook everything else.

Originally posted by Gorman91
And I know it's been adding up for some time. But one can only blame yourselves.

Blame? Whats blame got to do with this? You think anyone here is asking you to feel sorry for the US? You think what is going on right now is the US's problem alone? Again, clearly, you are not informed. This is a HUMAN problem. These are MULTINATIONAL corporations, influencing governments all over the world. The whole creation of the EU was for their convenience and at the expense of the sovereignty and well being of the people of those nations.

Its not about blame. Its about we need to do something about this now. All of us. The worlds people.

Originally posted by Gorman91
Because you could vote them in or out. It has, in the end, always been in your power to remove them or not, People are clearly happy with the way things are and until they don't have their car tv and basic human rights, they aren't really doing any worse than any other government for the last eons. But rest assured they are trying to grab power and will fail because of it.

You are just laying blame. Humanity is not perfect, and yes, it would be nice if all along the majority had seen what was happening and stopped it. But the illusion of freedom is powerful, and the immortality of the corporate form gives it a longer view than that of people. They have been at this since the beginning of the nation. Some of us havent even been alive half a century, and the first 18 years of our lives we are not voters.

Its not about who did what or who should have done what when, its that WE the worlds people, need to stop this infection before we are all destroyed by it. Maybe it did start in the US. Maybe it actually started on the continent and moved here. Maybe the roots are in Rome. At this point who cares. Historians can figure that out AFTER we save ourselves.

But we need to unite against a common enemy, and that enemy is the corporate form, and the banks.

reply to post by soficrow


Corporations never really pay taxes. All corporate taxes are paid for by consumers when they make product purchases. The corporation gets their money from everyday people and then that money is passed on to governments. Therefore corporate tax is exactly equivalent to a sales tax, except it is in a much more hidden form and therefore much more dangerous to the pubic since the fleece has been pulled over their eyes.

Corporate taxes accomplish:
1. Putting a hidden tax on the poor more than anybody else. As corporations providing basic needs are taxed just as much as corporations providing pointless junk that people apparently want.
2. Feeding the beast. And by beast I mean the war machine called US federal government, who uses the funding from corporations to kill, maim, and destroy by doing things like waging war in Iraq, ...putting people who use psychedelic substances behind bars even when they have never harmed a fly nor is there any threat of them doing so, ...and destroying the life of anyone who refuses to pay off the protection money racket that funds all this called the IRS.

Corporate taxation is one of the filthiest things governments do.

reply to post by soficrow


So I take it you have figured out who will run the NWO's energy dept?

reply to post by HOLDYOURFUTURECLOSE

Originally posted by HOLDYOURFUTURECLOSE
reply to post by soficrow

 

So I take it you have figured out who will run the NWO's energy dept?

Is that a riddle? Is the answer GE?

...What's GE's relationship and connections with Big Oil?

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


Not really, seeing as their power structures come from a select few nations and governments.Stopping these guys in Iraq will not stop them globally. Stopping them in America will in fact stop them globally. So yea, you really do have to blame the people in those countries for not booting them out earlier. Call me uninformed all you want, I'm still not buying why. You label fast but don't add on the ingredients. It's not a human problem at all. Its the problem of a couple of people, probably less than 1000.

Now I really doubt this comes from more than a couple of people who had a pretty penny in the 1950s, whom themselves being the inheritance of a few folks from the lat 1800, of whom the two don't even share much ideology from each other. They rise and fall like any other group. They are falling now, thinking they are rising. I'd say that's a death wish. They'll get theirs in due time. This idea of some vast invisible conspiracy is just silly. Things made by man simply are not that widespread nor long lasting. They fall like any other group of individuals.

No, I don't think we need to unite. The world was perfectly fine under them before they acted like gods, and I suspect when they are all dead for their sins that the next group to take over will try to learn from their mistakes but inevitably make the same ones a few generation down. You can have that under the current system or a more visible one. Either way the system will fail for like all governments, men get cocky. And for that they must occasionally be killed to water the tree of liberty. They never learn until it's too late, and that's simply being human.

reply to post by Gorman91


What?

Was that intended to be coherent? Because it wasnt. The corporate form has been at war with democracy as long as they have been in contact. It has just taken a long time to get to a level of horror that the average person has some inkling something might be wrong. And even that isnt a universal. Many people still have no idea something is wrong.

Some knew right off the bat it was a bad idea.

en.wikipedia.org...

Thomas Jefferson wrote in a 1816 letter to George Logan:[14]

I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

The problem is, the bulk of humanity really doesnt care about these issues. They DO just want to have their supper, boink the old lady, and tip a pint. They do only care when an issue has its teeth in their rear end.

And you really have no right to criticize them for that, because you are not exactly dazzling me with your knowledge of the issue and fine analysis of it. Just blame the bloody US. Who the hell really cares? I know I dont. We can just totally overlook anything approximating an actual solution or even the history of the problem.

en.wikipedia.org...

The word "corporation" derives from corpus, the Latin word for body, or a "body of people." Entities which carried on business and were the subjects of legal rights were found in ancient Rome, and the Maurya Empire in ancient India.[7] In medieval Europe, churches became incorporated, as did local governments, such as the Pope and the City of London Corporation. The point was that the incorporation would survive longer than the lives of any particular member, existing in perpetuity. The alleged oldest commercial corporation in the world, the Stora Kopparberg mining community in Falun, Sweden, obtained a charter from King Magnus Eriksson in 1347. Many European nations chartered corporations to lead colonial ventures, such as the Dutch East India Company or the Hudson's Bay Company, and these corporations came to play a large part in the history of corporate colonialism.

But Im done with this "discussion." Its all Americas fault and whatever you feel needs to be done to stop it in America you just go right ahead.

Originally posted by potatorampage
Also as a final comment, I'm not a socialist per say, but

Then you go on to tell us that you have socialist and Marxist ideas that make you a socialist. You are correct, yes socialism is bad. It is idiotic, as history has proven it does not work. Everyone deserves to be equally poor? If you want equality, go to Cuba. America is about the right to make your own way.

reply to post by soficrow


According to CNN, G.E. LOST hundreds of millions in the U.S., which is why they paid no taxes here. no profits = no taxes.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


War with democracy? Good, I hate democracy. Democracy leads to monarchy and destruction. Let it die.

To be honest, if people don't feel something is wrong, then perhaps there IS nothing wrong. People will always get to the top. That doesn't mean there was some coherent effort or push to get there. That simply means that any environment will generate predator, pray, and an apex hunter. In the current one, the apex hunter is the one that can lie and steal the best without getting caught. Hence why I stated that backing the dollar on the GDP is the only solution to get rid of the problem and that's assuming there is one anyway. I'm not exactly against lying and cheating to get to a position of power if the end result is the removal of bad people. Seeing as this thread is out to make one or a couple of companies look like the scorn of the Earth, I need some proof. Especially recent proof. To go back a notch, can you give me one economical or business reason why uranium would be preferred over the other thing?


Yes, you are correct that people don't honestly care. And I fail to see why that's a bad thing necessarily. It keeps things in check. The powers in charge must deliver, or they will be destroyed. It is a social contract. You give us freedom, we give you authority. You take something from us, we kill you. Simple, precise, and to the point. It removes all care because they know if they fail to live up to our demands it will be their heads on a pole. I am not criticizing them for it. I am commending them for it. I very much so agree with a lot of Jeffersonian elements in government. Those aristocrats can try to grab all the power they want, but they must be taught where the line is drawn by the occasional slaughter of their bunch for their crimes. Nothing personal. You have to cull the wolves sometimes. But they are vitally needed in the environment.

I I think America will go ahead and solve the problem. It's happening even now. In due time those in the wolf pack seeking to expand their territory will be killed off just as they always have been. More blood for the tree of liberty and her glowing leaves reminding those wolves that they always are under our control, even if they think it is they who are in control.

But to go back on topic, I repeat about GE above.

reply to post by Gorman91


I think where Jefferson was going with this,

I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations which dare already to challenge our government in a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country.

Was that we had outlawed aristocracy in the US, but corporations were rushing in to fill the void. In effect, becoming the new aristocracy, by creating a system of laws favorable to themselves.

I dont disagree with you that democracy probably isnt the ideal governmental form. BECAUSE the majority of people dont want to be bothered with the decisionmaking and educating themselves on issues. Unfortunately, democracy really doesnt end up serving the people, because it runs counter to human nature. Although most would argue this until they were blue in the face and maybe even come to blows with you, the majority of people do not want to govern themselves.

But what I do not agree with is the idea that we should allow the most predatory to run the herd. And I dont believe lying to get elected ostensibly to right wrongs is the thing to do. People either need to be forced to make better more informed choices by constant peer pressure, or we need to put a system in place that is better equipped to deal with the truth about human nature and meet its needs.

Society should benefit humans, as well as humans benefit society. It should be a mutually satisfactory relationship, not one in which humanity is merely a means to an end, and human happiness is irrelevant. More needs to be done than just slap some American corporations like GE down. The form itself should be abolished. It is working at counter purposes to human life and happiness, and it cannot do otherwise. We need to destroy our Frankenstein monster before it destroys us.

Originally posted by dalepmay
reply to post by soficrow

 

According to CNN, G.E. LOST hundreds of millions in the U.S., which is why they paid no taxes here. no profits = no taxes.

When it's illegal, it's called "cooking the books." When it's legal, it's called "tax dodging."

GE is famous for tax dodging.

The company has been cutting the percentage of its American profits paid to the Internal Revenue Service for years, resulting in a far lower rate than at most multinational companies.

Its extraordinary success is based on an aggressive strategy that mixes fierce lobbying for tax breaks and innovative accounting that enables it to concentrate its profits offshore. G.E.’s giant tax department, led by a bow-tied former Treasury official named John Samuels, is often referred to as the world’s best tax law firm....The team includes former officials not just from the Treasury, but also from the I.R.S. and virtually all the tax-writing committees in Congress.

reply to post by Illusionsaregrander


We never outlawed aristocrats. In fact, most laws were designed for them. The country itself was founded by them. Thomas Jefferson owned a giant plantation on top of a mountain for goodness sake. What they did not want was slavery of the masses, despite it being legal.

I'm afraid the only way to get what you want is to redesign the system to a 1984 national socialist republic. You would basically have no trust amongst politicians. They would, each and every one of them, be like Hitler. But they would, each and every one of them, be unable to take power. And the second they did, they would be killed by the system itself. You unleash man's brutality onto himself and his own flawed. Make man's sin a scapegoat for his savage behavior. Men in power would be so caught up killing each other, they would not realize that the people they control have pretty much the free will to do whatever they want.

More or less, turn the psychopaths on each other, and the tree of liberty is watered in rains of blood, never ending. Gruesome reality for unending freedom. The horror of man made to support the best of man.

reply to post by romanmel


I used to enjoy the Carlin clips until I started to realize that his audience is apparently totally asleep as well. Where are they now? Where is the revolution? The sad truth is that the system even coned them. It was just entertainment for them. George ... RIP!