Dear Commons Community,

The  NY Times editorial today provides the rationale for why we need an Occupy Wall Street movement in this country.    The first three sentences say  it all:

“Big business has clearly decided that the economic crisis is too important to waste. While Washington debates how to create jobs and cut the budget deficit, major corporations — read major campaign contributors — are pushing Congress for an enormous tax cut on corporate profits. Lawmakers seem all too eager to grant their wish.”

While sitting on over $2 trillion of cash, corporate America might find the will to create more jobs if they are given  “a temporary tax holiday that would allow them to bring foreign-held earnings back to the United States at a vastly reduced tax rate. A bill in the House would tax repatriated earnings at 5.25 percent, a fraction of the usual rate of 35 percent; a bill in the Senate would cut the rate to 8.75 percent.”

The editorial points out that the last tax holiday given  in 2004, “largely failed to spur investment or job growth. Companies spent most of the repatriated $300 billion on dividends and stock buybacks, enriching executives and shareholders.”

Is there no shame in how corporate America  and its Washington cronies operate.

God save us!

Tony