Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Election 2016
Jim Hightower: Donnie’s no populist, he’s a Trumpist!
"The media establishment has erroneously labeled Donald Trump a 'populist,' endorsing his absurd assertion that, while he might be a billionaire, he’ll be 'our' billionaire, fighting for us commoners!
I’m not telling anyone how to vote, and I certainly understand the inclination to grab the biggest stick you can find to whack the bejeezus out of those political and corporate elites holding you and your family down – and Trump has sold himself as the biggest, baddest stick around. But I am here to say, don’t be a sucker. There’s not a single populist muscle in Donnie’s whole plutocratic body. He will sell out wage earners, small business people, and anyone else to serve his own needs or whims, as his lifelong record (as opposed to his recent rhetoric) reveals.
Donnie learned to be self-serving from his father Fred, who became a millionaire by getting federal housing subsidies to build apartment buildings in New York City. Then, as landlord, he flagrantly discriminated against black people trying to rent an apartment. One of Fred’s tenants was none other than Woody Guthrie, who was so appalled by Daddy Trump’s greed and racism that he wrote songs denouncing him!
The Donald not only inherited Fred’s fortune, but also his business ethics, including engaging in wage theft, outsourcing his expensive Trump-branded products to such low-wage countries as China and Vietnam, and illegally using (and underpaying) undocumented immigrants to build his luxury projects. Also, he has been sued hundreds of times for stiffing cabinet makers, plumbers and other small business suppliers.
Donald J. Trump is a swaggering son of privilege who has never been on the side of working people and most certainly would not be a populist president. To the contrary, in his heart, mind, and whole being, he’s nothing but a Trumpist – of, by, and for himself."
Jim Hightower: Donnie’s no populist, he’s a Trumpist!
"The media establishment has erroneously labeled Donald Trump a 'populist,' endorsing his absurd assertion that, while he might be a billionaire, he’ll be 'our' billionaire, fighting for us commoners!
I’m not telling anyone how to vote, and I certainly understand the inclination to grab the biggest stick you can find to whack the bejeezus out of those political and corporate elites holding you and your family down – and Trump has sold himself as the biggest, baddest stick around. But I am here to say, don’t be a sucker. There’s not a single populist muscle in Donnie’s whole plutocratic body. He will sell out wage earners, small business people, and anyone else to serve his own needs or whims, as his lifelong record (as opposed to his recent rhetoric) reveals.
Donnie learned to be self-serving from his father Fred, who became a millionaire by getting federal housing subsidies to build apartment buildings in New York City. Then, as landlord, he flagrantly discriminated against black people trying to rent an apartment. One of Fred’s tenants was none other than Woody Guthrie, who was so appalled by Daddy Trump’s greed and racism that he wrote songs denouncing him!
The Donald not only inherited Fred’s fortune, but also his business ethics, including engaging in wage theft, outsourcing his expensive Trump-branded products to such low-wage countries as China and Vietnam, and illegally using (and underpaying) undocumented immigrants to build his luxury projects. Also, he has been sued hundreds of times for stiffing cabinet makers, plumbers and other small business suppliers.
Donald J. Trump is a swaggering son of privilege who has never been on the side of working people and most certainly would not be a populist president. To the contrary, in his heart, mind, and whole being, he’s nothing but a Trumpist – of, by, and for himself."
Saturday, October 08, 2016
Afghanistan's Ghost Soldiers, Funded By the West
Reuters: U.S. watchdog questions money spent on Afghan 'ghost' soldiers
"A U.S. government watchdog is pressing the Pentagon to explain reports of tens of thousands of "ghost" soldiers and police on the payrolls of the Afghan security forces, which are heavily funded by international donors. The U.S. government has allocated more than $68 billion since 2002 to help support Afghan security forces battling Taliban insurgents and other militants. The United States and its NATO allies pledged earlier this year to provide around $5 billion per year until at least 2020 for the army and police. Some of that money could be fraudulently wasted by funding non-existent positions in the security forces, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Defense Department. The letter was sent in August but released publicly on Friday. "Persistent reports indicating discrepancies between the assigned force strength of the (Afghan security forces) and the actual number of personnel serving raise questions regarding whether the U.S. government is taking adequate steps to prevent taxpayer funds from being spent on so-called 'ghost' soldiers," Sopko wrote. Afghan forces are struggling to defend against Taliban militants seeking to reimpose a fundamentalist Islamist government in Afghanistan, as well as other militant groups. In northern Afghanistan, government troops have been battling since Monday to try to clear Taliban fighters from positions they seized in key city of Kunduz. Nationally, the Afghan army and police have an approved strength of about 320,000, but officials say the real number is much lower than that. Heavy casualties and soldiers and police deserting or not reporting for duty mean security forces lose thousands of personnel every month, which they struggle to replace. The shortage of personnel has been most acutely felt in hot spots like Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan, where a lack of troops has undermined efforts to blunt Taliban gains. Officials in Helmand have said as many as half the security forces on the rolls did not exist, with much of the salaries for the non-existent troops going to corrupt leaders, Sopko said, citing media reports. The U.S. Department of Defense has taken steps to try to prevent fraud by automating some systems and collecting biometric data to track police and soldiers, but Sopko said such measures would only be effective if accurate data on Afghan force levels was collected and maintained.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Paul Tait)"
Reuters: U.S. watchdog questions money spent on Afghan 'ghost' soldiers
"A U.S. government watchdog is pressing the Pentagon to explain reports of tens of thousands of "ghost" soldiers and police on the payrolls of the Afghan security forces, which are heavily funded by international donors. The U.S. government has allocated more than $68 billion since 2002 to help support Afghan security forces battling Taliban insurgents and other militants. The United States and its NATO allies pledged earlier this year to provide around $5 billion per year until at least 2020 for the army and police. Some of that money could be fraudulently wasted by funding non-existent positions in the security forces, John Sopko, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, wrote in a letter to the U.S. Defense Department. The letter was sent in August but released publicly on Friday. "Persistent reports indicating discrepancies between the assigned force strength of the (Afghan security forces) and the actual number of personnel serving raise questions regarding whether the U.S. government is taking adequate steps to prevent taxpayer funds from being spent on so-called 'ghost' soldiers," Sopko wrote. Afghan forces are struggling to defend against Taliban militants seeking to reimpose a fundamentalist Islamist government in Afghanistan, as well as other militant groups. In northern Afghanistan, government troops have been battling since Monday to try to clear Taliban fighters from positions they seized in key city of Kunduz. Nationally, the Afghan army and police have an approved strength of about 320,000, but officials say the real number is much lower than that. Heavy casualties and soldiers and police deserting or not reporting for duty mean security forces lose thousands of personnel every month, which they struggle to replace. The shortage of personnel has been most acutely felt in hot spots like Helmand province in southwest Afghanistan, where a lack of troops has undermined efforts to blunt Taliban gains. Officials in Helmand have said as many as half the security forces on the rolls did not exist, with much of the salaries for the non-existent troops going to corrupt leaders, Sopko said, citing media reports. The U.S. Department of Defense has taken steps to try to prevent fraud by automating some systems and collecting biometric data to track police and soldiers, but Sopko said such measures would only be effective if accurate data on Afghan force levels was collected and maintained.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Paul Tait)"
Monday, October 03, 2016
Mr. 'That Makes Me Smart' Trump & His Income Taxes:
James Stewart: How Donald Trump Turned the Tax Code Into a Giant Tax Shelter
"Now we know: Donald J. Trump racked up losses so huge in the early 1990s that he wouldn’t have had to pay federal or New York State income tax on nearly a billion dollars in income. None of this seems to have made the slightest dent in Mr. Trump’s opulent lifestyle over the years. At the nadir of his personal financial crisis in the early 1990s, his lenders put him on a monthly 'budget' of $450,000 in personal expenses — more than enough to sustain his lifestyle of lavish homes, private jets, country clubs and golf courses — even as he was using the tax code to avoid paying any federal income tax. It’s hard to imagine a starker contrast with the vast number of Americans who struggle to both pay taxes and make ends meet, or a more damning indictment of a tax code that makes that possible. 'If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: The tax code is tilted toward the rich in its statutory framework, its exceptions, and in how it is enforced and administered,' said Steven M. Rosenthal, a real estate tax specialist and senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. 'The American public,' he said, 'needs to wake up and send a message that the tax code should be written to generate revenue and enforced to collect it, not to favor wealthy real estate developers and other special interests and their lobbyists.'
If Mr. Trump’s pattern of generating losses and using them to offset other income has continued, as seems likely, it’s obvious why he has not released his tax returns: not because he is being audited, or because the returns are too complicated, but because he hasn’t paid any taxes.
The latest revelations, in an article published by The New York Times, make a 'compelling' case for more disclosure, said Michael Knoll, professor of law and real estate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
'If his loss was so massive that he didn’t pay federal income tax for 15 to 20 years, that’s surprising. It’s even more surprising that someone in that situation would run for president,'..."
James Stewart: How Donald Trump Turned the Tax Code Into a Giant Tax Shelter
"Now we know: Donald J. Trump racked up losses so huge in the early 1990s that he wouldn’t have had to pay federal or New York State income tax on nearly a billion dollars in income. None of this seems to have made the slightest dent in Mr. Trump’s opulent lifestyle over the years. At the nadir of his personal financial crisis in the early 1990s, his lenders put him on a monthly 'budget' of $450,000 in personal expenses — more than enough to sustain his lifestyle of lavish homes, private jets, country clubs and golf courses — even as he was using the tax code to avoid paying any federal income tax. It’s hard to imagine a starker contrast with the vast number of Americans who struggle to both pay taxes and make ends meet, or a more damning indictment of a tax code that makes that possible. 'If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: The tax code is tilted toward the rich in its statutory framework, its exceptions, and in how it is enforced and administered,' said Steven M. Rosenthal, a real estate tax specialist and senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. 'The American public,' he said, 'needs to wake up and send a message that the tax code should be written to generate revenue and enforced to collect it, not to favor wealthy real estate developers and other special interests and their lobbyists.'
If Mr. Trump’s pattern of generating losses and using them to offset other income has continued, as seems likely, it’s obvious why he has not released his tax returns: not because he is being audited, or because the returns are too complicated, but because he hasn’t paid any taxes.
The latest revelations, in an article published by The New York Times, make a 'compelling' case for more disclosure, said Michael Knoll, professor of law and real estate at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.
'If his loss was so massive that he didn’t pay federal income tax for 15 to 20 years, that’s surprising. It’s even more surprising that someone in that situation would run for president,'..."
