Occupy Epidemic..Worthy?? In a sense, Yes..

  It has been a few weeks since my last blog but I have been tracking this for a bit and wanted to make a semi-informed thought on the subject before just opening my mouth (or laptop in this case).

  Although I am not in a disagreement with the right to protest or in fact the cause that many are supporting, I am not sure half of the protesters know why they are protesting other than they feel that they somehow deserve something they didn't get handed to them. Despite that, the ones who make legitimate concerned and influential points should be allowed to speak and they should be heard. The rise of the people may be beginning, lets only hope that the violence from either side does not outweigh the valid points needing to be made. The reaction of some of the police in certain cases in undeniably wrong! The actions of some of the protesters in certain cases is also undeniably wrong.

  Although, I am against what President Obama has been doing in his presidency such as playing both sides of the field in his actions and comments. I believe he is correct in a statement he made, "One of the biggest problems about the collapse of Lehman's and the subsequent financial crisis and the whole subprime lending fiasco is that a lot of that stuff wasn't necessarily illegal; it was just immoral or inappropriate or reckless." So even if we take that to be truth, then why would our government step up with Tax payer dollars and decide without our consent to bail out immoral and reckless corporations and banks?
That is the question we should ask them!!

  This is America and we are free and our government should be held accountable by the people since it is ultimately emplace For the People but with that being said, American people, we aren't owed anything by our government except life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The rest we must own up too and earn! So change yourself before you point your fingers, make educated votes, not by party and not by media hype but by facts. Learn them and then understand them. Then you may understand where you and us fellow Americans have allowed the government to become the power and dynamic it is today.

  I do believe our politicians need to look at this video http://front.moveon.org/the-most-powerful-occupywallstreet-clip-you-will-see-this-month/#.TppNovdrn2T.facebook and maybe digest their words with a little more effort since they have now had to regurgitate them. When the rest of the world is looking at us and the consensus being that we need to clean our own house before we direct other countries on "how to's" then maybe we need to vacuum what we have been sweeping under the carpets for years.
This starts with our given right to VOTE. From School Board to City Council to the seat warmers of Congress we need to exercise our right to make educated VOTE's. We direct our country and whether you like it or not we have elected the ones who have directed our country this way. Granted it may have been under false pretenses and hidden agenda's of the candidates but we still elected them. So don't base your votes off of just their campaign speeches and press appearances. Research the history of their votes while they held a position of instrumental influence in our society and learn their behavior. You want Change America, start with the mirror and then work up. We all need too, myself included.

Large Profit, No Tax ??

  Large corporations are the main body of influx in our economy. They possess great influence in our financial being and they for the most part control and inflict degrees of change upon our market. These corporations are given hefty tax leniency for there part in our economic structure and yet they continue to decrease employment opportunities in the U.S. by outsourcing overseas and we still allow them to reap the benefits of our tax deduction acts.
  Companies have always done outsourcing so this isn't new, however the issue at hand should be that outsourced goods on the American market have higher tax rates. Outsourced companies should be only allowed tax deductions on the percentage of goods actually manufactured in the U.S.. This will inevitably increase cost to the consumer but when the purchases decrease then the companies will be forced to drop the prices. Take a look below at Senator Sanders top ten, taken from Lynn Sweet's Article "The Scoop from Washington", in the Chicago Sun-Times..
The Bernie Sanders Ten, per release....
1) Exxon Mobil made $19 billion in profits in 2009. Exxon not only paid no federal income taxes, it actually received a $156 million rebate from the IRS, according to its SEC filings.

2) Bank of America received a $1.9 billion tax refund from the IRS last year, although it made $4.4 billion in profits and received a bailout from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department of nearly $1 trillion.

3) Over the past five years, while General Electric made $26 billion in profits in the United States, it received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.

4) Chevron received a $19 million refund from the IRS last year after it made $10 billion in profits in 2009.

5) Boeing, which received a $30 billion contract from the Pentagon to build 179 airborne tankers, got a $124 million refund from the IRS last year.

6) Valero Energy, the 25th largest company in America with $68 billion in sales last year received a $157 million tax refund check from the IRS and, over the past three years, it received a $134 million tax break from the oil and gas manufacturing tax deduction.

7) Goldman Sachs in 2008 only paid 1.1 percent of its income in taxes even though it earned a profit of $2.3 billion and received an almost $800 billion from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department.

8) Citigroup last year made more than $4 billion in profits but paid no federal income taxes. It received a $2.5 trillion bailout from the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury.

9) ConocoPhillips, the fifth largest oil company in the United States, made $16 billion in profits from 2007 through 2009, but received $451 million in tax breaks through the oil and gas manufacturing deduction.

10) Over the past five years, Carnival Cruise Lines made more than $11 billion in profits, but its federal income tax rate during those years was just 1.1 percent.
   What we conceive as fair and unjust is not the question but the fact that companies that make billions in our country need pay their fair share. Maybe taxation and low demand will find them to realize that  American pride will outweigh and that our economy should deserve these job offerings. If not then freeze those companies earnings by stricter tax laws. Perhaps, directing our congressional offices to tighten the loopholes and quit working for the corporations and start working FOR THE PEOPLE.

Our Voices

As in War, it is not the Commander or the headquarters who sees the agonies, trials, and tribulations of the decisions they make. It is the Soldier and his brothers and sisters in combat that suffer. As it is in our countries policies not the Commander or Congress but that of the common people who are left to endure the hardships of their decisions. The Soldier and the common people are the same. They are the field. Who better to dictate the successes and failures of the decisions made then those who live it everyday.
  When did we the people lose our voices? Did it come with complacency? Did it come with the sense of feeling that we no longer can make a difference, that we cannot change the way we operate. It is disheartening to see America lose faith in its Government but I truly understand. They have lead us to drink in unseemly debt and toward the feast of foreclosure of a great nation.
  However, it is not lost yet, and we can fight back. We are the people and we have the right to stand up and make corrections. To continue the path for our children, grandchildren and generations to come. If we do nothing then nothing will change. Einstein was quoted to have said, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". I believe this to be true of our state of mind as we sit back and allow ourselves to believe that without our involvement the government will change. We need to speak up, we need our voices to be heard.