Seeing the Forest

A government that says corporate money is “speech” dispatches lines of police to stop actual human-being citizens from actually speaking out. It's all right there in front of us: Wall Street got bailouts, the rich got tax cuts, corporations got to buy elections, people got job loss and home loss and pension loss and health care loss, protests got crackdowns.

(All pics are from twitter streams, clickable for larger, hover over them for descriptions.)

This is a BIG day of action in cities and towns all across the country. Here is a mid-day roundup of just some -- just some -- of what is going on. Click here to see a map of the hundreds of planned actions across the country. The scope and scale of this is just amazing, and is not at all being conveyed in the media.

Wall Street: Chanting “You’re sexy, you’re cute, now take off those riot suits,” demonstrators marched on the New York Stock Exchange. Retired police captain Ray Lewis was arrested holding a sign that read "NYPD Don't Be Wall Street Mercenaries."

A tweet: @digby56digby
RT @OccupyWallSt: Some bankers are holding signs that say, "get a job." Unemployment is at 10% and they're smug in suits. #N17 #OWS

At a Portland, Oregon bridge:

Los Angeles: AP: LA protesters march in financial district,

Los Angeles police have begun to arrest about 20 people sitting in an intersection at a rally by Occupy Wall Street sympathizers in the downtown financial district.

Hundreds of people marched Thursday before the small group linked arms around several tents and awaited arrest.

Iowa City:

Dallas: Reuters: Occupy Dallas protesters evicted, more than a dozen arrested,

More than a dozen people were arrested on Thursday morning in Dallas when police on horseback and in riot gear evicted Occupy Dallas protesters from a site near City Hall where they have been camping for the past six weeks.
There was no violence. Dallas city officials put the number of people arrested at 18, while Occupy Dallas officials said 17 were arrested.

Duluth:

Binghamton:

Detroit: Huffington Post: Occupy Detroit Joins Nov. 17 Day Of Action

Occupy Detroit protesters on Thursday were set to join nationwide protests on the two-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement's initial encampment in New York City.
... The group's day of action comes the morning after Detroit Mayor Dave bing announced the need for significant austerity measures to avoid an even greater financial crisis in the city. In a Wednesday night address, the mayor called for a further 10 percent wage cut for city workers and an increase in worker contributions to health care coverage. Bing city police and firefighters should give the same concessions.

Albany: WGRZ: Occupy Buffalo Joins Demonstrations in Albany, NYC

About 250 protesters gathered Thursday at the Occupy Albany demonstration near the state Capitol, where activists planned to present their grievances to Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office.

Buses from Buffalo, Rochester and other Occupy Wall Street encampments from around the state delivered the protesters to downtown Lafayette Park. Members of public employee unions have joined the Occupy Albany protesters.

A bridge in Montana:

Denver: ABC7: Occupy Denver Joins 'Day Of Action',

The first rally at noon will be at the Denver Municipal Building at 201 West Colfax Ave. The building is across the street from Civic Center Park where the Occupy Denver protesters have been camped out.
The second rally will be held at the Greek Amphitheatre at 6 p.m. in Civic Center Park.

Occupy Denver said the 6 p.m. rally will be a "General Assembly meeting" where they will discuss the Occupy movement as a whole and how the group feels they should progress over the coming months.

Houston: Houston occupiers join worldwide day of action,

“Occupy Houston stands in solidarity with those Occupy movements who have recently come under attack, including Occupy Oakland, Occupy Wall Street and now, Occupy Dallas,” spokesman Dustin Phipps said in a statement. “We continue to assert our right to occupy public space and conduct our first amendment right to peaceably assemble.”
One Occupy protester was arrested earlier this week during an argument with police over tarps the group placed over electronic equipment in Tranquility Park, an ongoing point of contention between the protesters and City Hall.

Columbia:

Boston:

NY Daily News: Occupy Wall St. spreads across the United States has pictures from around the country (not necessarily today) including Minneapolis, Miami, Providence, New Orleans, Lincoln, Seattle, Anchorage, Montgomery, Cincinnati, Burlington, Salt Lake City, Little Rock, Jackson, Ashland, Richmond, Hartford, Casper, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Tulsa, St. Louis, Boise, Honolulu, Salem, Austin and others.

Don't forget San Francisco, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Oakland/Berkeley, Philadelphia, Muncie, Davenport, Lexington, ...

Around The World, Too

London, Sydney, Toronto, Rome and Tokyo ... Is this pic really Tokyo?

Occupy Colleges

National Student Strike

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.

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-- Posted by Dave Johnson at 8:46 PM PST on November 17, 2011.

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How Wealthy Companies Like Verizon Avoid Taxes

-- by Dave Johnson

Verizon needs to open a call center, which means a few new low-paying jobs. They get local governments bidding against each other, offering all kinds of tax breaks if only they'll bring those jobs there. Before the bidding war these jobs will be in the economy somewhere, but local schools, police, etc. will be funded. After the bidding war the same number of jobs open up but schools, police, etc. are not funded -- and the 1% are that much richer. Company after company does this. Community after community, desperate for jobs, loses. Schools, police, infrastructure go unfunded. Just who does this help? The 1%.

Earlier this month, the organization Citizens for Tax Justice joined with the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy to release a report, "Corporate Taxpayers and Corporate Tax Dodgers, 2008-2010." The report looked at 280 corporations, finding that 78 did not pay federal taxes in at least one of the past three years and 30 averaged a less-than-zero tax bill in the last three years. Yes, less-than-zero, meaning they got money from the government instead of paying taxes to the government.

Verizon In Focus

Now a report by Citizens for Tax Justice and Good Jobs First, “"Unpaid Bills: How Verizon Shortchanges Government Through Tax Dodging and Subsidies,” looks at one company in particular. I've been writing about how Verizon is very, very profitable, but is trying to force its workers to give up ever more pay, benefits, job security and dignity. The company's workers are engaged in an effort to preserve a middle-class existence.

Yesterday I joined a press call that hilited this Verizon report. The company aggressively manipulated state tax rules, demanded subsidies, and used other methods to end up with a negative federal income tax rate, and receiving state and local tax subsidies in at least 13 states. When setting up call centers, for example, they offer localities the prospect of jobs that that will be created somewhere in US, where the company would have paid taxes to fund schools and infrastructure, but get the localities bidding against each other until they end up making a profit instead of paying taxes.

From the report,

With more than $100 billion in annual revenues and nearly $15 billion in operating profits, Verizon Communications is a large and prosperous company that should pay a substantial amount in taxes to federal, state and local governments.

Verizon enjoyed some $14 billion in federal and state corporate income tax subsidies in the 2008-2010 period even though it earned $33.4 billion in pre-tax U.S. income during that time.
At the federal level, Verizon should have paid about $11.4 billion at the statutory rate of 35 percent during the three-year period. Instead, it got $951 million in rebates, putting its federal tax subsidies at $12.3 billion. Its effective federal tax rate was -2.9 percent.
At the state level, Verizon should have paid about $2.3 billion in corporate income taxes during the period but it handed over only $866 million. Its aggregate state rate was only 2.6 percent, far below the weighted state average rate of 6.8 percent. This gave it state tax subsidies of about $1.4 billion.
Verizon also used a special tax loophole called the ReverseMorrisTrust to avoid paying about $1.5 billion in federal and state and local taxes on the sale of its landline assets in various states.
Verizon also aggressively seeks state and local tax subsidies through credits, abatements and exemptions. There is no centralized reporting on these subsidies but in this report we document $180 million in special tax breaks and grants Verizon and VerizonWireless received in 13 states.

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.

Sign up here for the CAF daily summary.

-- Posted by Dave Johnson at 6:56 AM PST on November 17, 2011.

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November 16, 2011

Tomorrow's Day Of Action - A Big Deal

-- by Dave Johnson

Thursday's National Day Of Action looks like it will be really big. People will be out doing things all over the country. There will be all kinds of events that say, "We are the 99%!" My favorite is people will be gathering in front of various decaying bridges, to demonstrate that our #1 need is jobs and our #1 place to put people to work is rebuilding our decaying infrastructure.

To find events near you see American Dream Day Of Action at http://november17.org/ and We Are One at http://we-r-1.org/

Isaiah Poole writes about the Day of Action in his post today, The Evictions Won't Stand: Make Nov. 17 A Day Of National Occupation,

"You can't evict an idea whose time has come." That was the message posted on OccupyWallSt.org as early this morning, police began to storm the Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.
To prove it, supporters of the Occupy movement have vowed to pull out all the stops to make November 17 a day of national occupation. That day is the two-month anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street protests that sparked a national and international movement. There were already 303 "We Are the 99%" protests scheduled for that day around the country, organized with the help of MoveOn.org. Now those gatherings have added urgency as a rebuke to the efforts to squelch the occupations and silence their voices. As the OccupyWallSt.org statement says, "This burgeoning movement is more than a protest, more than an occupation, and more than any tactic...This moment is nothing short of America rediscovering the strength we hold when we come together as citizens to take action to address crises that impact us all. Such a movement cannot be evicted."

Bridges

Here are just some of the bridge events this Thursday, Nov. 17:

These demonstrations are part of a National Day of Action against policies that have enriched the 1% and impoverished the 99%. People nationwide will march and rally at structurally unsound bridges and other sites in need of repair to demand that America be put back to work now and that the economy work for the 99% once again.

New York, NY – 6 p.m. March on Brooklyn Bridge
Chicago, IL – 3:30pm, LaSalle Street Bridge
Washington, DC – 4:30 p.m. protest at Key Bridge
Los Angeles, CA – 7:00am, 3rd St. and Hope St. in downtown LA (to march and demonstrate at the structurally deficient 4th Street bridge)
Philadelphia, PA – 4 p.m., Market Street Bridge, near historic 30th Street Amtrak Station
Pittsburgh, PA – 3 p.m., Greenfield Bridge
Seattle, WA – 4:00pm, Montlake Bridge
Miami, FL – 40p.m., Brickell Drawbridge
Baltimore, MD – 4:30 p.m., Howard Street Bridge
Boston, MA – 4:30 p.m., Charlestown Bridge
Portland, OR – 8:00am, Steel Bridge (east side of bridge)
Houston, TX – 3:30pm, Travis Street Bridge
Detroit, MI – 3:00pm, 2nd Avenue/94 Bridge
Milwaukee, WI – 3:30pm, North Ave pass over I-43
Minneapolis, MN – 4:00pm, 10th Avenue Bridge

CWA / Verizon Worker March

The biggest labor action right now is Verizon's workers who are trying to preserve middle-class jobs from a predatory giant corporation that is trying to send all the money to the 1%. Verizon workers have been marching from Albany to New York City and will arrive at Verizon HQ on Thursday.

I received this statement from the Communication Workers of America:

"The Communications Workers of America strongly condemns the decision by Mayor Bloomberg to forcibly remove protesters from Zuccotti park. In two short months, Occupy Wall Street has focused the world's attention on the deep frustration felt by working people about an economy that no longer works for the middle class. The 99% have seen good jobs disappear while the rich get richer and the big banks make billions with impunity. Mayor Bloomberg may have cleared the park for now, but Occupy Wall Street's message cannot be silenced. No one can evict an idea whose time has come.
"Now more than ever, CWA members will join the massive day of action on Thursday, November 17. Verizon workers who have been walking for over a week from Albany, NY -- over 150 miles in total -- will arrive at Verizon Headquarters at 140 West St in New York City on Thursday at 4 pm to join hundreds of their coworkers in a March to Foley Square. Their message is the same message we are hearing from Occupy Wall Street and beyond: The 99% are standing up against corporate greed and against a government that more and more puts the interests of the 1% ahead of the middle class."

See also from The Nation, Occupy Verizon, Occupy the Labor Movement,

Forty-five thousand union members at Verizon, no longer a majority at their company, are negotiating with a company set on imposing conditions more like those of their non-union co-workers: higher healthcare costs, job insecurity and raises left to management discretion. Workers (most from the Communications Workers of America) struck for two weeks when their contracts expired in August, then returned to work with an agreement to “restructure bargaining.” Since then, Verizon has relented on some insulting but comparatively low-cost concessions, like eliminating the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. But overall it maintains “pretty much the same position they had when we went on strike,” according to Bob Master, who coordinates CWA actions against Verizon in New York and seven other states.

Social Security

If you are in DC, there is a Wake Up Washington rally to stop the "supercommittee" from cutting Social Security, which would harm seniors and the economy. Here is info:

What: Rally with Sen. Bernie Sanders, other Champions in Congress, and hundreds of activists

Where: Dirksen Senate Office Building, Room 608 (Corner of Constitution and First St., NE)

When: Thursday, November 17, 10am-11am

Repeat:

To find events near you see American Dream Day Of Action at http://november17.org/ and We Are One at http://we-r-1.org/

Also, if you follow Twitter, follow the #N17 hashtag for ongoing information, by clicking here.

This post originally appeared at Campaign for America's Future (CAF) at their Blog for OurFuture. I am a Fellow with CAF.

Sign up here for the CAF daily summary.

-- Posted by Dave Johnson at 11:04 AM PST on November 16, 2011.

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Back To Chrome

-- by Dave Johnson

Yesterday I wrote that I was switching away from Chrome to Firefox because Chrime crashed so often, and there was a new version of Firefox out.

Whoa - Firefox 8 was just awful! There was this noticeable lag time for everything, the interface is not convenient, and it just felt awkward. Especially when writing posts. Slow, catchy, sometimes it didn't even sense that I was typing...

So back to Chrome, hoping it will stop crashing all the time.

I'll try Safari soon, and report back.

-- Posted by Dave Johnson at 9:44 AM PST on November 16, 2011.

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November 15, 2011

Switching Back To Firefox

-- by Dave Johnson

After a very long run I have given up on Chrome and am switching back to Firefox. Chrome was crashing too often, becoming worse and worse. Let's see how Firefox does, now that it is at version 8...

And have you noticed that google is getting harder and harder to use, and not giving good results anymore?????

What's up with this company?

-- Posted by Dave Johnson at 2:55 PM PST on November 15, 2011.

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