Maryland Tax Delinquents Named

Maryland Tax Delinquents named by Maryland Comptroller's Office:

The Comptroller of Maryland is serious about retrieving unresolved tax liabilities. As a part of the collection process, we publish the names of businesses, individuals and corporate officers having large unresolved liabilities - including individuals who have large unresolved personal income tax liabilities. All of the information is public since liens and judgments have been recorded in the judgment dockets of one or more circuit courts of Maryland.

No one is above the tax laws. If you don't want to see your name posted on our site along with other tax delinquents, be sure to keep up with your tax obligations.

GDAE Podcast - Episode 44

Journalism & Democracy in Crisis

• Econ 101: The notion that giving the wealthy class, or owner class, tax cuts to spur jobs and economic growth is a widely held belief in our society... What's the real story today?


• Feature on the Broken Corporate Media: Communications Professor Robert McChesney on Journalism and Democracy in Crisis
  

Play Episode 44:


Click to Download Episode 44.

Debate Continues on Obama Tax Deal

Below is a comment of mine on the December 17 Episode of "WakeUp AM" podcast (Episode 239). Brian of WakeUp AM had taken the position that Obama's tax deal with the Republicans was effectively the only pragmatic alternative. I, and others, took an alternative view:

Good discussion on the tax legislation. Brian made an argument worth noting; if the economy continues to do poorly in two years, then the Republicans would blame it on Obama for raising taxes on upper income earners.

Brian is right that the ultimate outcome was that the Republicans would get tax cuts for the rich; however, we could have done better, both in substance and in process (MLK would argue that process matters and I'll leave it at that for process).

On substance, he didn't drive a good bargain. For example, Obama could have sought to decouple the upper and lower income tax cuts by giving a three-year cut to lower earners and two-years for upper earners. Decoupling the two taxes would allow Democrats to vote separately on extending tax cuts for high-earners. This would avoid the potential for hostage-taking.

So, it might be true that tax cuts for the rich were inevitable, but Obama caved way too early. As you alluded, Obama might have been pissed at Congressional leaders for not using the tax cut legislation as a campaign issue; he might feel this was partly to blame for the bad mid-term election results. He might be unwilling to let it happen again. However, I think he erred in judgment on this one.

Mail Box Full

My Congressman's voice mail box is full this morning. Hopefully it's full of voice mails that say something to the effect:

I call to urge you to seek a better tax deal than what President Obama and the US Senate have agreed to. Please stand on the side of the majority of the people who understand that disparity of wealth in the US is at a dangerous extreme. The economic system has been rigged for decades leading to a disgraceful situation of common people working harder for less and seeing the future of their children in peril. The US House of Representatives is the chamber of the people. Stand up to the elite minority so often represented by the US Senate and stand with the people. Thank you

I'll send him an e-mail.

Update: On second thought, I'll also leave a voice mail at one of his district offices.

• Contact the US Senate
• Contact the House of Representatives

Obama Acted too Soon on Tax Framework

I've listened to a variety of commentary on Obama's Tax Cut ransom "Framework" with the hostage takers (AKA Republicans).

What stands out for me is the Rachel Maddow show of 12/7/10 with Simon Johnson and Senator Sherrod Brown (D) OH. Three things stand out in particular: 1) People falling for Obama's rhetoric and concluding "he did the right thing under the circumstances", 2) Obama's list of what the Republicans supposedly "gave up" in this deal, like Childcare Tax Credits, College Tuition Tax Credits. But these were tax cuts added to Obama's earlier stimulus package to presumably attract Republican vote (in other words, the Reeps didn't "give these up") , and 3) Sherrod Brown's convincing scenario of the "fighting" path Democrats could have taken if the White House had coordinated a strategy with the Hill; a messaging campaign, taking the Reeps to the brink and making them blink at the 11th hour. He's convinced that the extension of unemployment benefits would have passed... without all of the other capitulations, like changes to inheritance taxes that will further polarize wealth in our Country.

I think Hugo Chavez was right: Obama is a prisoner. Even if Sherrod Brown's scenario didn't play out, at the 11.5th hour they could have caved... but they didn't really fight for it.

I know some say that the Reeps also held other legislation hostage until they ransomed the tax cuts for the rich, like "don't ask," but if the Dems want to frame and control the message, then they need to let the Reeps dangle in the breeze before paying the hostage ransom.

• Contact the US Senate
• Contact the House of Representatives

Sources:

US Corporations Have No National Loyalty

As GM goes, so goes the nation.

Some are saying that was conventional wisdom in the 1960s... or maybe it's still true. It is no longer the fringe liberals and right wing nationalists who are saying things like:

GM is the number two foreign automaker in China behind Volkswagen, and GM’s plans for the future are dependent on success in China and not in the good old USA!

The reality is that so-called "US Corporations" have little or no loyalty to the US, except to the degree they can use the power of the government to their advantage... United Fruit Corporation liked having US military power support dictatorships in Central America so they could exploit workers and the environment without the unpredictability of democratic elections and the sovereign laws that follow.

Corporations are chartered to make a profit, and those with share holders have a fiduciary responsibility to make a profit; corporations can be sued by their share holders for bring do-gooders at the expense of profit. Corporations, apart from the people that run them, are designed to be profit-sharks... so, National loyalty, like paying their fair share of the National tax burden, is fundamentally counter to their charter... unless they are forced to do otherwise.

In stating his support for the "Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act", Senator Carl Levin siad,

“tax havens are engaged in economic warfare against the United States, and honest, hardworking Americans”

Obama and Geithner support the legislation, which makes me a little suspicious that it has been given a seal of approval by the corporate establishment. I don't claim expertise on the bill, but its good the issue is getting attention.

The "Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act" is a refinement of a bill introduced during the last Congress. According to Tax Justice USA, "The bill has been strengthened with the addition of three new provisions that would: (1) treat foreign corporations managed and controlled in the United States as domestic corporations for income tax purposes; (2) close an offshore tax dividend loophole that enables non-U.S persons to dodge payment of U.S. taxes on U.S. stock dividends; and (3) expand the tax return reporting requirements for passive foreign investment corporations (PFICs) to include U.S. persons who don’t own a PFIC, but have formed, sent assets to, received assets from, or benefitted from a PFIC."

For more, check out Tax Justice USA's website. If you like the legislation, contact your representatives in Washington.

Contact the US Senate

Contact the House of Representatives

Sources:

Tax Justice USA's website.

McCain's Mortgage Bailout Plan

McCain's mortgage bail out idea rewards the bad behavior of both mortgage lenders and irresponsible home buyers. A diagram makes it easy to see:

McCain Mortgage Double-Bailout Plan

So, the lesson is, if in the future we or the banks want to take a risk to make big bucks, but things go bad, the government (aka tax payer) will bail us out. That gives us an incentive to take big risks for potentiall big profits, and not worry about the consequences. This is known as the moral hazard of such policies, and is looked down upon gravely by honest conservatives. John McCain doesn't appear to be one of them.

But there are better alternatives. I provide one below.

0) Most of our mortgages now reside in "bundles" of 500 - 1,000 mortgages that can be sold or used as collateral for issuing bonds (aka securities) that make up the mortgage backed securities we hear of. Before we can do anything with individual mortgages, they must be un-bundled, and the bad mortgages must be separated from the good mortgages(McCain has to do this too).

1) Buy Bad Debt: We the tax payer (aka the government) give holders of bad mortgages (like banks) the option of buying their bad mortgages and assuming the debt (let banks get them off the books). The option is completely voluntary. The houses would be purchased at the prevailing prices. With prices continuing to drop, the mortgage holders have an incentive to sell them to us (the tax payer). The banks loose the red part on the graph above, but with prices dropping, they could loose more (they better sell now).

2) We Own Bad Debt: Waahoo! The tax payer now owns lots of property. Not the first time. We (aka the government) were the largest property owner in the US following the 1980s Savings and Loan Bailout (same thing, smaller scale, yet HUGE... making today's debacle, uber-HUGE, I like to call it historic).

3) Separate Renters from Owners: The government will need to provide jobs to help sort out the mess. Some home buyers will be able to pay for the house, with some adjustments. They can continue to own their home. Others will be in way over their heads. For them, the government takes ownership of the house, and the people can rent. A third group might be able to "rent-to-own." Nobody is thrown out into the street. The payments on mortgages and rent help pay for the new jobs needed to "sort thru the mess."

4) Sell the Houses Back to the "Free Market:" In time, as the economy recovers and the property values have risen, the tax payers can place these houses back on the market and receive a hansom profit. Most likely, the reintroduction of homes back into the market would be done over several years through a bidding process.

5) Enjoy the Profits: We take the profits and pay for all the things we need, not military stuff nor any corporate welfare, etc.

6) Control Our Destiny Forever: We rule over the banking industry, as we should, and we live happily ever after. Ah Men.

Tax Payer Bailout Equals Ownership

Paul Krugman writes, in an essay entitled The B Word:

Last week, Robert Rubin, the former Treasury secretary, and John Lipsky, a top official at the International Monetary Fund, both suggested that public funds might be needed to rescue the U.S. financial system. Mr. Lipsky insisted that he wasn’t talking about a bailout. But he was.

OK. If we the tax payers have to bail out the financial titans, then we should become part owners. How does that happen? One way is to negotiate a partial nationalization of the corporation. Think of it as future profit sharing. These companies are dead if the tax payer doesn't come to their rescue. We could tax them in the future, but I'd rather have their books open to US government audits, and for we the tax payers to simply get our cut. Period.

I'm tired of watching the US tax payer get shafted in historic crisis after crisis. We're still paying for the 1980s Savings and Loan bail out. It's time to say enough is enough. "The King has now clothes," already. This isn't a free market, it's a free ride, and I'm sick and tired of underwriting the wealthy lifestyle of financial high fliers. Are you?

Lets do something about it. Write your US representatives and senators. We want partial ownership.

Payday Loan Business

Wow. Google payday loan business and you'll get over 2 million hits. Many are singing the praises of this business:

How to Start a Payday Loan Business

Why should you buy a payday loan or other money lending business?

You'll also see snippets like this one:

H&R Block To Settle More Payday Loan Suits ...

Some call it Legal Loansharking. Thought the 24% APR on a credit card was tough? On the average payday loan of $300 for eight days, a 15% fee equates to an APR of 459% according to Maureen Rooney.

But there's a story within the story. These seedy store fronts you see in depressed neighborhoods are "Big Business" posing as a little businesses, like Citigroup.

According to Danny Schechter, who appeared on Media Matters March 25, 2007 points to a similar operation.

One of the phenonomena that is very topical is people who go to various tax preparation services to get their refunds right away... they end up paying an exhorbtant fee charge on this. What we discovered was that there were these rat trap kind of little store fronts in the ghetto ... and behind the scenes was the HSBC Bank which was taking $1.6 Billion dollars out of poor neighborhoods with these tax refund businesses brokered through all kinds of differerent companies including H&R Block.

We tried to interview the head of this program at HSBC, and of course they refused to go on camera. Just the other day HSBC reported a $10 Billion dollar loss on its subprime loan situation. So, a lot of these people who are predators, predatory lenders, are now facing a big problem because these people have defaulted and they are left holding the bag, though they have made a small fortune on it.

One of the things I also found out about was a hundred thousand veterans coming back from Iraq, who are in hock up to their eyeballs, and have these payday loans, and down in Norfolk, Virginia, where we did some filming we found out that there were like three payday lenders around the base in Norfolk a year ago. Today there are twenty-six lenders

Danny Schechter continues to describe the Naval and Marine Corps relief society, which has researched the situation. They've discovered that the problem payday lenders are causing serious pain for military families.

Schechter continues to point out that the progressive community "by and large has not really spoken out on this."

People who are in MoveOn and other groups... and a lot of the bloggers are totally focused on every burp in Washington, every mini scandal problem to show that Bush is a liar, he's a liar, he's a liar, how many times have we heard that? But they don't really look at the institutional issues. And they don't look at the economic issues too often. So what I'm encouraging ... is that we have to focus on the economic realities, not just the political realities.

Schecter expands on this in an March 26, 2007 article entitled, "Lets Broaden Our Focus To Include Economic Issues: It’s Time To ‘Stop The Squeeze’" not Scheckter
.