Category: Greed

Categories
Business Greed The Biden Administration

Karine Jean-Pierre Shreds Amazon’s Jeff Bezos On Her First Day As Press Secy. And It’s Absolutely Awesome

Monday was Karine Jean-Pierre’s first day as White House Press Secretary, and she did a great job, proving that she’s a superb replacement for Jen Psaki, who is now working for MSNBC.

At one point during today’s press briefing, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy decided to ask about a tweet that had been sent out last Friday by President Joe Biden which read:

Doocy asked:

“The president’s Twitter account posted the other day if you wanna bring down inflation, let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share. How does raising taxes on corporations reduce inflation?”

Jean-Pierre responded:

“We have talked about this past year, about making sure that the wealthiest among us are paying their fair share, and that is important to do. That is something the president has been working on everyday when we talk about inflation and lowering costs, so it’s very important that as we’re seeing costs rise, as we’re talking about how to, you know, build an America that’s equal for everyone and doesn’t leave anyone behind, that is an important part of that as well.”

Doocy followed up with this query:

“But how does raising taxes on corporations lower the cost of gas, the cost of a used car, the cost of food for everyday Americans?”

“So I think we encourage those who have done very well, especially those who care about climate change, to support a fairer tax code that doesn’t charge manufacturers workers, cops, builders a higher percentage of their earnings, that the most fortunate people in our nation, and not let that stand in the way of reducing energy costs and fighting an existential problem if you think about it, that is an example. To support basic collective bargaining rights as well.”

Not content, Doocy asked again:

“The President said if you wanna bring down inflation let’s make sure the wealthiest corporations pay their fair share. Jeff Bezos came out and tweeted about that, he said ‘the newly created disinformation board should review this tweet.’ Would you be okay with that?”

That led Jean-Pierre to put Bezos on full blast, responding:

“Look, it’s not a huge mystery why one of the wealthiest individuals on earth, right, opposes an economic agenda that is for the middle class, that cuts some of the biggest costs families face, fights inflation for the long haul, right, and that’s what we’re talking about, that’s why we’re talking about lowering inflation here, and adds to the historic deficit reduction the president is achieving by asking the richest taxpayers and corporations to pay their fair share. That’s what we’re talking about.”

Boom! That’s what we’re talking about. And while we’re at it, let’s also tax the hell out of Doocy’s boss, Rupert Murdoch. If he doesn’t like it, he can move back to Australia and renounce his American citizenship.

Categories
Donald Trump Greed WTF?!

Merry Griftmas! The Donald Is Hawking Trump Christmas Stockings On His Web Site

Failed, one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump absolutely loves to falsely claim that he single-handedly won the so-called “war on Christmas” which he alleges (also falsely) has been instigated by liberals and progressives.

When he was still president, Trump often gave himself verbal pats on the back as he told his brainless supporters that he had made it safe for us all to say “Merry Christmas” again, even though in reality we never stopped saying it.

And now, even though Christmas remains six weeks off, Donnie Claus is offering us all chance to purchase a Christmas stocking with his ugly mug on the front of it. If that’s not enough to make you retch up your turkey and dressing, then you must have a stomach made of titanium.

Since he’s no longer allowed on Twitter or Facebook, the ex-president had his “communications director,” Liz Harrington, send out the Trump Christmas stocking announcement:

OK, here’s a couple of things about the Trump stocking:

  • Why does his face have to be ALL OVER the damn thing?!
  • “Save America”? Really? If we really want to save America, we’ll put the Trump family behind bars for the next 50 years.
  • The symbolism of the flames in the fireplace appearing ready to consume the stocking cannot be overstated. It brings to mind images of Trump in hell (where he’s probably headed) as well as how he nearly burned down the foundations of the American republic.
  • Oh, and don’t forget that in order to get the Trump stocking, you have to donate $50 or more, even though the thing is likely made in China and cost less than a buck to produce.

Twitter users had some thoughts on Donnie’s latest scam:

Categories
Greed Taxation WTF?!

Right-Wing Host: Raise Taxes On The Poor – The Rich Pay All The Taxes!

If you’ve ever been brave enough to watch a few minutes of Fox News, Newsmax, or other right-wing networks, then there’s an good chance you’ve seen Ben Shapiro, who is listed as the “editor emeritus” of the extremely conservative website The Daily Wire, which pumps out all sorts of lies, disinformation, and conspiracy theories that the tinfoil hat wearing crowd laps up like honey.

Shapiro (along with some other deplorable right-wing asshats) watched President Joe Biden’s speech to a join session of Congress on Wednesday evening and was outraged by the fact that the president has plans to fund some of his programs for infrastructure and education by raising taxes on large corporation and the richest Americans.

According to Shapiro, the rich already pay too many taxes:

 “I was screaming at the television when he’s talking about taxes. Because what he is saying is so obviously asinine. When he says that rich people don’t pay their fair share in this country, that is just an abject disgusting lie. It is a lie. The top ten percent of income earners in this country pay all net taxes. Not some of the taxes, all of the net taxes – because net taxes are defined as what you pay into the government, minus what you get back from the government.”

Shapiro’s co-host, Jeremy Boering (never has a person had a more appropriate last name), then joined the conversation, gladly seconding what Shapiro had said and then going further:

“The people who don’t pay their fair share in this country are the poor. We need to raise taxes on the poor. I’m not joking. I’m not joking. The poor in this country pay zero. The lower middle class in this country pay net zero. So we have a group of people who pay no taxes, a group of people who pay no net taxes, a group of people who pay all the net taxes, and his argument is that it’s category three who don’t pay their fair share. Fair share means your percentage of taxes. We’ve determined that there are some people who shouldn’t pay any percent of taxes. The only fair taxing system is one in which everyone pays.”

As you’d expect, what Shapiro and Boering said is complete bullshit.

The poor are taxed very heavily. It’s just that their tax burden is on items they buy to survive: Food, housing, medicine. Oh, and there’s also the payroll tax that comes out of paychecks. And to top it all off, many lower income Americans also wind up paying income taxes too, usually at the federal and state level.

It’s no surprise that right-wing douchebags want to make sure the rich get richer. They’ve been playing that same tune for decades, but their dreams of a trickle-down economic miracle never pan out. Why? Because supply side economic policy doesn’t work and never will.

The real reason people like Ben Shapiro and Jeremy Boering don’t want to raise taxes on the well-to-do is simple: They’re greedy assholes with a massive sense of entitlement.

Want to see the vast majority of Americans stand up and cheer? Raise the top tax rate on the richest to 75% and tell the millionaires and billionaires that if they don’t like it, intercontinental flights are leaving every hour from the nearest airport.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump Greed Money

The Trail Of Trump’s ‘Dirty Money’ Is About To Send Him To Prison: Report

The only thing that matters to Donald Trump is money. His family, his friends, even his own health are a distant second to his lust for money and his willingness to do whatever is necessary (legal or illegal) to obtain more of it.

To put it another way, consider this perfectly-worded paragraph from Chauncey Devega of Salon:

“Donald Trump is the leader of a political crime family. As president, he abused the power and influence of the office to personally enrich himself, his family and his inner circle. Much of Trump’s apparent extortion, self-dealing, influence-peddling, and outright blackmail was done in plain sight. One such scheme, in which Trump attempted to extort the president of Ukraine into launching a phony investigation of Joe Biden, resulted in his impeachment (that is, for the first time).”

But the thing is, money always leaves a trail, whether in the form of bank records, tax statements, or financial disclosure forms used to obtain loans for real estate projects such as the ones the Trump Organization has been building or branding for decades.

That trail of dirty money is what will send Trump to prison and destroy his company in the very near future.

In September of last year, Dan Alexander published an important book entitled  White House, Inc.: How Donald Trump Turned the Presidency into a Business, that takes a close look at the trail of cash that leads from Trump to all sorts of sordid characters across the globe:

“Alexander cautions that we may never see substantive evidence that directly connects Trump to Russian bankers and oligarchs, as so many observers in the news media and among Trump’s critics have repeatedly suggested. But that doesn’t mean there’s no evidence of apparent corruption: Both in his book and in this conversation, Alexander offers compelling evidence that Trump’s otherwise inexplicable foreign policy decisions may often have been shaped by venal interests.”

During a recent interview, Alexander was asked what areas of Trump’s finances offer the best opportunity for prosecution and conviction. He replied:

“At the federal level, Trump is no longer protected by the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion saying presidents cannot be indicted while in office. That could be problematic for him, especially given the material already uncovered in the hush-money case and the Mueller report. But I would not be surprised if the Biden administration elects not to reopen those wounds. Regardless, the investigations by the Manhattan DA and the New York State attorney general will remain serious threats. Presidential pardons will not impede those matters, and the officials overseeing them are responsive to left-leaning constituencies.”

It all comes down to New York, which is ironic when you consider that Donald Trump considers himself the quintessential New Yorker. Maybe he’ll even get a chance to try out the Empire State’s prisons.

 

Categories
Corruption Crime Donald Trump Greed

Manhattan DA Compiling Evidence Of Extensive Tax Fraud By The Trump Organization

Prosecutors working for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. have met with President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, on matters related to the payment of hush money to women who allegedly had affairs with Trump and the falsification of records at the Trump Organization, according to NBC News:

“The former personal attorney for President Donald Trump has entered into an agreement with New York City prosecutors to provide information about the president’s business operation, a source familiar with the situation told NBC News.

“The Manhattan District Attorney’s office is investigating the possibility that the Trump Organization falsified business records, the source said.”


Two former federal prosecutors noted that it’s clear to them Vance’s office is looking to indict Trump on charges of tax fraud.

Joyce Vance, who served as U.S. Attorney for Alabama, noted:

“If they were able to make some sort of a tax charge here … we could be looking at a lengthy violation for a felony. It’s certainly not a misdemeanor.

“The felony crime is a serious one, it carries a lot of collateral consequences. But most significantly is the threat there is jail time involved, and any amount of jail time in the state system in New York would be very unpleasant for the president of the United States.”


Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman was even more specific when it came to discussing exactly that investigators in Manhattan are preparing to do as it relates to Trump and the Trump Organization:

“I think we have a continuous theme here that pervades all of and it’s simply that all roads lead to Donald Trump’s tax returns. To make this a serious crime and a serious felony falsifying business records is usually associated with falsifying numbers so that they falsify in turn the tax returns.”


What Akerman said next should terrify Trump and anyone associated with the Trump Organization:

“So in this particular case it could very well be that they are looking at the false state tax returns that have been filed by the Trump Organization, filed by Donald Trump, and there could be all kinds of people who could have criminal liability here. If it’s just Donald Trump, obviously, the problem there is indicting a sitting president, although the Manhattan DA’s office is not under the same stricture as the Department of Justice. They could indict a sitting president. Secondly, there are lots of people around Donald Trump who could be indicted for aiding and abetting and assisting in this.”

Keep in mind these would be state charges. Trump cannot use Attorney General William Barr to short-circuit state investigations, and there is nothing in case law that says a sitting president cannot be indicted by a state authority. Also, Trump cannot pardon anyone in New York or another other state on charges brought by state of local authorities. He has no way out of being indicted in New York. None whatsoever.

Why has Trump so steadfastly refused to let anyone see his taxes? Because he knows they prove his many crimes.