Sarah Palin: Crony Capitalism on Steroids from GE to Solyndra

When everyone was looking for Sarah Palin to make the "Big Announcement" in Iowa on September 3, Sarah quietly introduced a new theme into the 2012 campaign ... Crony Capitalism. So effective was her speech that The New York Times of all places took notice.

In the speech Palin, points out something we should all have noticed, (had we not had our Red and Blue colored glasses firmly in place) that both the right and the left are correct as to what is kill our nation. On the right, we see Big Government as the killer or liberty and freedom. On the left, they see Big Business as the threat to the little guy. The truth is that it is the collusion of the Big Government and Big Business that is messing things up for this nation.

In her latest Facebook post, Palin illustrates how this collusion is on full display with GE, Solyndra and the Obama administration.

Sarah Palin on Facebook: In my recent speech in Iowa, some eyebrows were raised when I took on our government’s enormous economic problems caused by crony capitalism. As if on cue, just days later President Obama selected someone who exemplifies a major crony capitalism problem to sit next to the First Lady when he delivered his “jobs plan” speech before Congress. He selected General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt as his honored guest.
Having grown up with great respect for GE thanks to stories my grandfather shared with us about his days working for the company and even meeting GE spokesman-at-the-time Ronald Reagan during a company event, I am saddened at GE’s leadership evolution. This corporation is now the poster child of corporate welfare and crony capitalism.

This icon of American industry is a company full of good employees who make some good products (and is the parent company of a huge media outlet), but GE is also a large American corporation that pays virtually no corporate income taxes despite earning worldwide profits of $14.2 billion last year, $5.1 billion of it in the United States. In fact, they claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion, meaning they received more of our hard earned tax dollars than they contributed. How is that possible? It’s because not only do they shelter their money from taxes, but they also get many tax credits, loans, government grants, and other benefits from the federal government that our smaller businesses couldn’t even imagine being able to profit from. [MORE]

Expect to hear more about Crony Capitalism as the 2012 race pushes on.


Via: Memeorandum
Via: Sarah Palin on Facebook

G.E. is tax free

The New York Times: General Electric, the nation’s largest corporation, had a very good year in 2010.
The company reported worldwide profits of $14.2 billion, and said $5.1 billion of the total came from its operations in the United States.
Its American tax bill? None. In fact, G.E. claimed a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.
That may be hard to fathom for the millions of American business owners and households now preparing their own returns, but low taxes are nothing new for G.E. 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. Indeed, the company’s slogan “Imagination at Work” fits this department well. 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. [MORE]

This story is a perfect example of everything that is wrong with Washington today. I hardly know where to begin with pointing out the problems.

Here we are a nation that is $14 trillion in debt and here we are giving $3.2 billion in refunds! Chalk this up to our insane progressive tax system with its myriad of social engineering tax breaks and crony capitalism loopholes. The entire system should be scrapped and a flat tax with no deduction or exemptions should be instituted.

This story also represents the cozy relationship between large corporations and the Federal government. Corporations, unions and special interest groups will always be able to raise vast amounts of money to sway the political process in their favor. I often think that banning contributions from anything but individuals should be the way to go. Set contributions to a modest level so that no one individual will have great sway. It would wipe out cronyism and help to bring the cost of campaigns down. Furthermore, it would also cut down on all the pandering as politicians would have to reach out to a much broader array of voters in order to raise cash.

We also have to once again point out the blatant hypocrisy of supporting progressives with their love of taxation and then ducking the high taxes that are always the result.  G.E. 's CEO Jeffrey Immelt was on board for the higher taxes of Cap and Trade. No doubt knowing that G.E. could use its money and insider influence to duck the high taxes while its smaller competition would drown from it.

Via: Memeorandum

Via: The New York Times