Many Americans were shocked last month to learn that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney only paid an effective tax rate of 13.8 percent in 2010, but a recent report shows that corporations are paying even less.

Corporations in the U.S. paid only an average of 12.1 percent in taxes on the profits they earned inside the U.S in fiscal 2011, according to statistics from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).

The Wall Street Journal reports that it's the lowest percentage corporations have paid on those profits since at least 1972, and it's less than half of the 25.6 percent they paid on average between 1987 and 2008.

Corporations saw their profits, however, reach an all-time high at the end of 2010. The $1.68 trillion in annualized profits in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 beat the previous record of $1.65 trillion in the third quarter of 2006.

The Journal credited the low rate to a temporary tax break, known as "bonus depreciation," which allowed companies to immediately write off certain investments instead of taking write-offs over a period of years.

In an interview with NBC earlier this year, Romney flat-out stated that President Barack Obama had raised taxes on corporations.

"If you want to get the economy going, lower corporate tax rates," he said. "He’s raised them."

Since 1993, the marginal corporate rate has been at 35 percent. Romney has proposed that it be reduced to 25 percent.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has said the he would "create a boom of new American entrepreneurship by dramatically cutting the corporate tax rate" to 12.5 percent (PDF), one of the lowest in the developed world.

During his State of the Union Address last month, the president also opened the door to lowering the corporate rate "without adding to our deficit." In their 2010 report (PDF), the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board discussed lowering the marginal rate to 28 percent.

Breaking news on this day in February, 1988. After an all day debate on Military funding for the Nicaraguan Contra rebels, the house voted 219-211 to deny the Reagan request. Since it had already given over $36 million in aid opponents called on the House to "give peace a chance", a phrase that was widely mocked and ridiculed by the hawks and the White House.

Meanwhile - The Senate approved by a vote of 97-0 the confirmation of Justice Anthony Kennedy to the Supreme Court. Speaking of courts, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Surrogate Mother contracts were akin to baby selling, which were considered illegal, so the Baby M controversy got a major set-back. On the matter of Election 1988, Presidential hopeful Bob Dole was being accused of handing favors to friends in the form of fat government contracts. Dole feigned amnesia.

Speaking of amnesia; Panamanian strongman Manuel Noriega was to be indicted by the U.S. government for drug trafficking, even though it was casually revealed Noriega was on the CIA payroll to the tune of $200,000 a year for well over a decade as some sort of anti-Communist operation. The G-Man giveth - the G-Man taketh away.

An oil slick from a spill of some 300,000 gallons of crude was making its way to the Brittany coast of France. The uproar in Paris was palpable. And on the subject of uproars, it was discovered Brazil had entered into a very lucrative arms deal with Libya. That little bon mots didn't sit well with Capitol Hill.

And so it went, spinning quietly out of control this February 3rd 1988 as reported by CBS News and CBS Special Reports.

Sandy Rios is a Fox Talker and Vice President of Family PAC Federal, a PAC supporting ultra-conservative candidates like Michele Bachmann, Marco Rubio, Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn. Evidently her gifts are limited to her abilities to repeat right wing talking points with alacrity and little more.

Her "discussion" with Fox contributor Jehmu Greene about the Susan G Komen Foundation's announcement to reverse themselves on some level with regard to Planned Parenthood paints a pretty vivid image of the differences between right and left when it comes to women's health.

Rios views the backlash by men and women across the country over the Komen Foundation's decision to withdraw funding for breast cancer screening from Planned Parenthood centers across the country as a mere "shakedown" while arguing that the foundation is a private enterprise which can do what it wants.

Not so fast, there, Ms. Rios. As long as donations to the foundation are tax-deductible, it is not a private enterprise. It is a taxpayer-subsidized enterprise with a stated mission to raise money for and fund breast cancer research and health initiatives to prevent and treat breast cancer. It is not a corporation created with private dollars to pursue private objectives. Not at all.

Rios' protests might actually be interesting if the statement released this morning by the Komen Foundation weren't so full of holes and hedges that you could play croquet on it. On first blush, it appeared to be a concession to the backlash, but upon closer inspection, it appears to be mostly a public relations move to keep a terrible situation from being even more terrible.

Since President and CEO Nancy Brinker has offered two separate and contradictory reasons for the original decision, there's no reason to expect they won't withhold grants from Planned Parenthood because they decide to add requirements, like on-site mammography, which Planned Parenthood contracts with third party providers for.

And as John Aravosis points out, they could show some contrition by approving the grant application from Planned Parenthood they've turned down once already.

But let's not allow facts to distract this wild-eyed woman on Fox from just going on and on about how Senators intimidated Brinker. Here's a question for Sandy Rios: Since abortions represent 3 percent of Planned Parenthood's overall health services delivered to women, then what she is saying is that 97 percent of health services delivered to women is worthless. Did she really mean that?

Continue reading »

Alan Grayson as a parrot? Obama as a slave ship captain? Children as slaves? (I thought they were supposed to be janitors?) Alan Grayson always seems to end up in districts with true wingnut opponents and this cycle is no different.

Via The Church Report:

Featuring the "USS Obamaboat," the animated ad urges voters to “turn this ship around” and criticizes Obama's levels of government spending, including bank bailouts, healthcare and a loan to the failed solar company Solyndra.

Children rowing the USS Obamaboat are told to “Earn! Earn! Earn! Don’t you care about the banks? Don’t you care about the 99 percent?”

A woman in a bathtub on deck says, “This ship stimulated my husband’s solar company” and is then handed money by a man in an adjacent bathtub.

This ticked me off enough to make a donation to Alan Grayson's campaign. Join me?

[Warning: Graphic adult content, some viewers may find this disturbing.]

The Oakland Police Department tried their best to keep certain things from being filmed, like close-ups of them assaulting peaceful protesters, they missed this one.

As kettled activists beg the Oakland Police to please issue a dispersal order so that they can leave, batons come out swinging for no apparent reason and allegedly someone's grandmother is struck. Shocked occupiers tell police that they've hurt a grandmother, and one man is even on his knees begging for a dispersal order. Again, for no apparent reason, an officer grabs a young black man at the front of the crowd by his ears and drags him away.

President Barack Obama proved on Thursday that conservatives don't have a monopoly on using religion to advocate for specific public policies.

Speaking to a group of mostly-conservative politicians at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, the president quoted scripture in a effort to get Republicans to support a fairer tax code and caring for the poor.

"When I talk about our financial institutions playing by the same rules as folks on main street, when I talk about making sure insurance companies aren't discriminating against those who are already sick or making sure that unscrupulous lenders aren't taking advantage of the most vulnerable among us, I do so because I genuinely believe it will make the economy stronger for everybody," Obama explained. "But I also do it because I know far too many neighbors in our country have been hurt and treated unfairly over the last few years. And I believe in God's command to love thy neighbor as thyself."

"And when I talk about shared responsibility, it's because I genuinely believe at a time when folks are struggling, at a time when we have enormous deficits, it's hard for me to ask seniors on a fixed income or young people with student loans or middle class families who can barely pay the bills to shoulder the burden alone. And I think to myself, if I am willing to give something up as someone who has been extraordinarily blessed, give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy -- I actually think that's going to make economic sense."

He added: "But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus's teaching that for unto whom much is given, much shall be required."

"Treating others as you want to be treated, requiring much from those who have been given so much, living by the principle that we are our brother's keeper, caring for the poor and those in need, these values are old and they can be found in many denominations and many faiths and among many believers and among many non-believers. They're values that have always made this country great when we live up to them, when we just don't just give lip service to them, and we just don't talk about them one day a year."

[Credit: Caroline Richmond Caring Family and Friends Facebook Group]

In late November, Caroline Richmond was rushed to the hospital after collapsing on the way home from school. Doctors quickly determined she'd had a stroke and required immediate surgery. The bad news just kept coming. The stroke had been caused by leukemia.

In the weeks following brain surgery, Caroline had to undergo chemotherapy. She later became so ill that she was put on a ventilator and had to be fed through tubes. Although she is still listed in critical condition and faces a bone marrow transplant, Caroline has made progress. She was taken off the ventilator and tubes last week, and is now eating solid food for the first time since the stroke.

As it turns out, Caroline is one of more than 50 million men, women and children who do not have health insurance in the United States, which is why her family is in the same predicament as Sarah Burke's. Caroline's father, Dallas, is self-employed and, like millions of other Americans who do not work for a company that offers health benefits, has not been able to find affordable coverage for his family.

Click here to read the entire article by Wendell Potter. Hat tip to Michael Moore.

UPDATE: Anonymous’ Latest Release Includes Private Info About Sexual Assault Victims and Guantanamo Lawyers

The call begins with Stewart and Bruce of Scotland Yard and the Los Angeles office of the FBI as they tell inside jokes about McDonald's and cheese and talk shop about a hacker plot called "Project Mayhem."

They discuss strategy aimed at bringing down the hacking collective known as Anonymous, which has launched a series of embarrassing attacks across the Internet.

Unfortunately for the cyber sleuths, the hackers were listening, too, and now so is everyone else in the world.

Via:

As FBI and Scotland Yard investigators recently plotted out a strategy for tracking suspects linked to Anonymous, little did they know that members of the group were eavesdropping on their conference call and recording their plans.

The online vigilante group has released a 17-minute clip of a Jan. 17 conference call between investigators discussing evidence gathered against members of the group as well as upcoming plans for arrests. The group also released an e-mail sent out by an FBI agent to law enforcement agents around the world with a phone number and password for accessing the conference call.

The FBI has confirmed to the Associated Press that the recording is authentic.

From The Hill's "Hill Tube" -- Actor Chris Rock: 'I'll pay higher taxes' :

Actor Chris Rock doesn't mind paying more in taxes. The way he sees it — in the end he'll have to spend the money anyway.

"I'll pay higher taxes. I look at it this way I can pay higher taxes and people can have jobs or I can pay lower taxes and I have my kid's teacher asking me for a loan, which is true," said Rock to The Associated Press.

"So I'm going to lose the money no matter what."

Rock also told the AP that as president of the United States, President Obama is like a father figure to the country.

"That's your job when you run anything is to reassure, so that's all I hope for, some reassurance." Read on...

Cue the feigned outrage at Fox where they're screaming for him to mail in a check in 10... 9... 8....

Although the SEC recently asked Congress to pursue legislation that toughen laws and to raise financial penalties for fraud violations, a new report suggests that the Commission is avoiding tough sanctions already at its disposal.

Analysis shows that the Securities and Exchange Commission has been giving waivers to the biggest Wall Street firms in the last decade, letting them off on punishments meant to apply to fraud cases. The New York Times found nearly 350 instances in the last 10 years where the SEC has allowed financial giants like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America to have advantages reserved for only the most dependable of companies and avoiding punishments when their financial forecasts turn out to be wrong.

According to the report, JPMorgan Chase has settled six fraud cases in the last 13 years, but was granted at least 22 waivers. Bank of America has settled 15 fraud cases and received at least 39 waivers.

Via:

By granting exemptions to laws and regulations that act as a deterrent to securities fraud, the S.E.C. has let financial giants like JPMorganChase, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America continue to have advantages reserved for the most dependable companies, making it easier for them to raise money from investors, for example, and to avoid liability from lawsuits if their financial forecasts turn out to be wrong.

An analysis by The New York Times of S.E.C. investigations over the last decade found nearly 350 instances where the agency has given big Wall Street institutions and other financial companies a pass on those or other sanctions. Those instances also include waivers permitting firms to underwrite certain stock and bond sales and manage mutual fund portfolios.

JPMorganChase, for example, has settled six fraud cases in the last 13 years, including one with a $228 million settlement last summer, but it has obtained at least 22 waivers, in part by arguing that it has “a strong record of compliance with securities laws.” Bank of America and Merrill Lynch, which merged in 2009, have settled 15 fraud cases and received at least 39 waivers.

Only about a dozen companies — Dell, General Electric and United Rentals among them — have felt the full force of the law after issuing misleading information about their businesses. Citigroup was the only major Wall Street bank among them. In 11 years, it settled six fraud cases and received 25 waivers before it lost most of its privileges in 2010.

That $228 million fraud settlement by JPMorgan Chase last summer? It was to settle civil and criminal charges that it "cheated cities and towns by rigging bids with other Wall Street firms to invest the money raised by several municipalities for capital projects." Yet the S.E.C. granted three waivers related to that case for privileges that it otherwise would have lost.

The S.E.C. said waivers were granted because "the company’s fraudulent actions didn’t involve misleading investors about JPMorgan’s business."

Screw cities, towns and the people in them, but heaven forfend not the investors.