[iwar] [fc:Operation.Enduring.Avarice]

From: Fred Cohen (fc@all.net)
Date: 2001-11-04 20:36:07
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From: Fred Cohen <fc@all.net>
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Date: Sun, 4 Nov 2001 20:36:07 -0800 (PST)
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Subject: [iwar] [fc:Operation.Enduring.Avarice]
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Operation Enduring Avarice
Filed October 31, 2001
Arianna Huffington

According to our leaders, we are not supposed to let the war on terror
disrupt our normal lives. And, to their credit, they're leading by example.

For instance, far from the war disrupting the House's normal run of
shameless corporate toadying, it's enhancing it. Indeed, it's giving our
leaders cover to put forward their answer to each and every problem America
faces: a massive corporate giveaway. And they even have the gall to call it
patriotism. Others, using the English language more rigorously, call it war
profiteering. 

The so-called economic stimulus package that passed the House last week
would have been scurrilous in times of prosperity. But in this time of
national crisis it is, quite simply, grotesque.

The grisly details include a retroactive elimination of the corporate
alternative minimum tax and a 10 percent cut in the capital gains tax. And
on the other side of the Capitol, the Senate Republicans are proposing an
acceleration of all the top-bracket tax cuts and a return of that old
favorite, the fully tax-deductible three-martini lunch.

The House package is little more than a rehashed corporate wish list, doling
out $115 billion in tax breaks to big business and the wealthiest taxpayers,
and a comparatively measly $14 billion to poor and moderate-income families
in the form of tax rebates and unemployment benefits. And while the tax cuts
for the haves are permanent, those for the have-nots are good for only one
year. 

What's more, the money given to corporate America is given without
conditions -- not tax credits tied to investments, but handouts more likely
to end up in CEOs' Christmas bonuses than back in the economy.

All you really need to know about the true nature of this bill can be found
in a largely unnoticed provision that makes permanent a gaping tax loophole
that was about to expire. It allows multinational corporations such as GE
and Ford to avoid paying taxes by shifting profits to their offshore
subsidiaries -- but only if those profits remain overseas. Tell me, how
exactly is providing incentives to keep money out of our economy supposed to
stimulate our economy?

The House bill is so outrageous that even some top GOP officials are
balking. In a rare slip from the party line, Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill
colorfully criticized it as "show business." Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, one
of seven Republicans who voted against the bill, labeled it "an early
Christmas card" for "already profitable corporations." And the president's
budget director, Mitch Daniels, informed the nation in a poetic outburst
that "the corral gates" have been blown open and "the animals are running
loose." 

The galloping beasts in this case are corporate lobbyists and their chums on
the Hill, Dick Armey and Tom DeLay chief among them.

The juiciest goodie in this box of corporate bon-bons, the retroactive
repeal of the corporate alternative minimum tax, will lead to $25 billion in
instant corporate rebate checks to needy companies such as IBM (slated to
get $1.4 billion), GM ($833 million) and GE ($671 million).

Of the $25 billion refund, over $6.3 billion will be given to just 14
corporations. Not surprisingly, these 14 lucky winners have been regular and
generous political donors. Over the last 10 years, they've poured almost $15
million in soft money into the national committees of both parties. It turns
out that may be the smartest investment they've ever made.

Such a blatant quid pro quo is so indefensible that the main champions of
the grandly named Economic Security and Recovery Act aren't even trying very
hard to justify it. Take Armey's wan effort on "Meet the Press." There he
was, half-heartedly trying to convince Tim Russert that we need these
massive tax cuts because the last round of massive tax cuts were not geared
to stimulating the economy. Really? Wasn't that him at a House subcommittee
hearing back in March, selling the last tax cut bill as "just the shot in
the arm that this economy needs"?

Armey then offered us all a lecture on how big corporate giveaways are the
best way to create new jobs. Unfortunately, the facts don't bear him out.
The $15 billion Congress just handed the airline industry hasn't kept it
from laying off 140,000 workers.

Armey also called enhanced unemployment benefits "a feeble response" and not
"commensurate with the American spirit." He went on to promise that the new
stimulus package "will create 170,000 new jobs next year alone." Not exactly
the most heartening news to the 7.8 million people currently unemployed in
the country. What are the 7.63 million left on the sidelines supposed to do,
sit around and cross their fingers, hoping one or two of the lucky 170,000
will eventually rub their new bosses the wrong way? Is that more in keeping
with the American spirit?

It's time to declare war on war profiteering. But we'll need political
leaders able to dramatize the betrayal of the public trust this bill
represents. 

Maybe there are too many numbers with too many zeros to draw the public's
attention away from the latest "general alert" issued by the attorney
general. So let's forget the numbers and focus on the moving story of good
overcoming evil. Let history record that, after Sept. 11, our leaders
brought the nation together and decided to fight the war on terrorism by
making business lunches fully tax-deductible and levying no taxes on
corporate profits patriotically funneled off shore. Call it Operation
Enduring Avarice. 

It's enough to put a lump in your throat.

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Next message: Fred Cohen: "[iwar] [fc:Microsoft.proposed.final.settlement]"
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