169 results for author: Dave Svetlik
WISDOM FOR JUSTICE
Religion at its very best is universal. It knows no boundaries, transcends all divisions and labels, judges not, excludes none. It is the ancient and eternal quest for a decent humanity, for caring societies and communities, for seeking unity with others. It accepts. It knows the human acts of thinking, questioning, doubting, of fearlessly seeking the truth, as deeply moral endeavors. It moves convictions to actions.
The Wisconsin faith based organization known as Wisdom is the embodiment of religion at its best. A member of the international network known as the Gamaliel Foundation, Wisdom is dedicated to improving the lives of the people of ...
The Rifle
Born in the late 40’s, I grew up in a family of hunters. Fair shots most of them, I remember standing next to my father when a spooked buck crossed our path at a dead run. Dad shot twice, hit twice, and the buck went down. It was near Hatfield, in central Wisconsin.
Dad’s rifle was an old, iron sight, pump action, 30 Remington. It has killed (we kill deer - corn and oats are harvested) a few deer since my father died in 94. My sons have used the rifle. It was never a popular caliber and bullets are no longer manufactured for it. I have about 35 left – should last me until I no longer hunt. The rifle is a treasure to me.
It is easy for an ...
NOT A DEMOCRAT . . . . A HUMBLE OPINION
As the dust settles on the November elections and the Democrats assess the damage, one thing seems increasingly clear. . . it is no longer clear at all just who or what is a Democrat. Given the apparent identity crisis, a process of elimination may be in order. . .
If you are not willing to openly fight the historic wealth inequality that has replaced democracy in America, you are not a Democrat.
If you are not publicly advocating the breakup of “too big to fail” Wall Street banks, you are not a Democrat.
If you do not rigorously support criminal prosecution of the fraud perpetrated on the people of America by the heads of Wall Street ...
Tax Dodger…Verizon
This is the eighth in a series on corporate tax dodgers. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
It is the same old story. Spend $15 million in a single year for lobbyists to convince legislators to pass laws allowing you to pay no taxes (from 2008 to 2012 Verizon actually had a negative 2.8 percent tax rate amounting to a $7.3 billion tax subsidy). Claim that low taxes create jobs and proceed to slash your workforce by 28,500 people. Drive America and her people into debt. Then have your multimillionaire CEO, Lowell McAdam, join “Fix the ...
Corporate Tax Dodger…Apple
This is the seventh in a series on corporate tax dodgers. This summary is taken directly from the report on Apple Tax Dodging by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
Purchase the legislators and legislation which allow you to “legally” pay few, if any taxes:
“Apple could spend $4 million lobbying politicians on the Hill, twice what the company spent last year and more than 20 times the $180,000 it spent in 1999, according to Reuters. The bump in lobbying spending comes with the iPhone maker under fire for allegedly being one of the largest tax avoiders in the nation.
Multinational U.S. corporations are currently ...
Corporate Tax Dodger…Merck
This is the sixth in a series on corporate tax dodgers. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
Do everything in your power to drive America into debt by spending $9.5 million in 2012 alone lobbying congress to write laws allowing you to avoid paying taxes. Offshore $53.4 billion in profits on which you have paid no U.S. taxes. Pocket $8.7 billion in taxpayer funded contracts from Uncle Sam – largely for pharmaceuticals provided to Medicare. Then have your CEO, Kenneth Frazier, fight to “fix the debt” by cutting Social Security and Medicare, ...
Corporate Tax Dodger…Pfizer
This is the fifth in a series on corporate tax dodgers. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
First you use research from the National Institutes of Health and major public universities, funded by average American taxpayers, to help develop your highly profitable prescription drugs. Then you spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to convince legislators to write laws forbidding the U.S. Government to seek competitive bids on drug prices, thus ensuring American citizens - especially the elderly - pay twice as much for prescription medications as ...
Corporate Tax Dodger…General Electric
Corporate Tax Dodger . . . General Electric
This is the fourth in a series on corporate tax dodgers that will be presented over the next several weeks. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
“Over the last 15 years, GE has spent more than $284 million lobbying Congress, an average of $100,000 every working day for the last decade and a half.”
Given that General Electric (GE) is one of the largest tax dodgers in America, it is a complete mockery of hardworking, taxpaying U.S. citizens when they claim they are simply taking advantage of ...
Corporate Tax Dodgers . . . Citigroup
This is the third in a series on corporate tax dodgers that will be presented over the next several weeks. These summaries are taken directly from the report on Corporate Tax Dodgers by Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies
It isn’t enough that Citigroup was among the Wall Street banks whose fraudulent and predatory “exotic financial instruments” caused the collapse of our economy. It isn’t enough that they were bailed out with hundreds of billions of public tax dollars. It isn’t enough that Citigroup’s tax dodging is driving America into debt. It isn’t enough the Citigroup’s multimillionaire CEO, Michael ...
Moral Monday – – – The Immorality of “Rocketship Education”
The educational immorality called “Rocketship Education” being imposed on the children of Milwaukee is the product of years of deliberate, calculated transfer of wealth out of inner-cities all across America. It is a well-researched fact that poverty is the single most important factor in any failure of our public schools. As stated in a report from the Economic Policy Institute:
“Decades of studies have affirmed that the single most important factor affecting educational achievement are inequalities of wealth and poverty. Since the inception of testing under No Child Left Behind, students from poor or economically disadvantaged families have ...