Wednesday, January 2, 2013

America's "Job Creators" don't buy "Made in America"

Justin Bieber’s car was a gift for his 18th birthday from his buddy and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. It is a Fisker Karma Electric and was made in Finland with a base price of $116,000 before customization and the chrome body.

While completing shopping for the holiday season, Wal-Mart heiress and billionaire Nancy Walton-Laurie personally spent millions on Employee Healthcare, the name of an extravagant, spitefully-named mega-yacht that she purchased for herself. (The name of the website is telling, considering this little tid-bit.)

The Wal-Mart heiress owns a $61 million luxury yacht called the Majestic -- and she also owns a slew of private jets -- whereas most Americans only need one private jet ;)

The Walton family (owners of Wal-Mart) is America's 2nd largest "job creator" and they have a private net worth of over $100 billion, but they create crummy low-paying jobs in America.

Microsoft and Apple (and others in the tech industry) are notorious for using Chinese labor camps to create most of their manufacturing jobs.

McDonalds is America's 3rs largest "job creator" (behind Wal-Mart and the U.S. government) and now desperate adults are competing with teenagers for the pleasure of working there. The owner, Mrs Kroc, likes to gamble in Las Vegas.

But what kind of jobs do the top 1% in America create with their "discretionary spending"? They want for nothing and can buy anything they desire. We know what kind of watches, cars, and yachts they like...they want the best that money can buy.

Rolex watches are made in Switzerland.

Maseratis and Ferraris are made by Italian companies. The $2.4 million Bugatti Veyron (pictured below) was developed by the Germans and manufactured in France.

The $1.8 million Lamborghini Reventon is made by an Italian company. The $1.85 million Aston Martin One-77 (pictured below) is made in England.

Rolls-Royce and Bentley (now owned by BMW) and Mercedes-Benz are German companies.

Germany also makes the most expensive yachts. The $622 million Project Azzam (pictured below) was built by Lürssen Yachts, which is based in Bremen-Vegesack Germany. (Have you ever heard of "yacht envy")

The $485 million Eclipse was constructed by Blohm & Voss which is based in Hamburg, Germany.

The $200 million Rising Sun is currently owned by David Geffen (co-founder of DreamWorks SKG) and was originally commissioned by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. It was built by the German yacht builder Nobiskrug.

The $200 million Octopus was commissioned by Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. It was built by the German builder Lurssen Yachts, who also built Larry Ellison's Rising Sun. (Paul Allen, also owns the $162 million yacht Tatoosh, pictured below.)

Barry Charles Diller is the media executive responsible for the creation of Rupert Murdoch's Fox Broadcasting Company. This billionaire media-mogul pays $2,000 a day to have his $150 million super-yacht moored directly opposite his Manhattan headquarters. His 305-foot long sailing yacht was also built by the German company Lurssen Yachts.

From America's 100 Biggest Yachts (and where they're built, as of 2010): "Many owners go to extraordinary lengths to avoid being associated with their yachts." (I wonder why...)

But in a world of extreme and obscene excess, the UK takes the prize for the world's first billion dollar yacht.

Read my post to see what else $1 billion can buy an average billionaire on the Forbes Fortune 400 List (those the GOP doesn't want to tax).

America's top 1% doesn’t want to help fund Medicare and Social Security, or create good-paying American jobs, but their "discretionary spending" creates lots of foreign jobs.

And most Americans don’t want to help subsidize the big oil companies (who are making record profits), the bloated defense contractors (who also outsource manufacturing jobs), the unnecessary wars (WMD?), the big pharmas (who over charge us) and their corporate agri-businesses (such as big tobacco).

According to the SSA, 50% of all American workers net less than $27,000 a year. The average "HOUSEHOLD" income is $50,000 a year - and 80% of all "HOUSEHOLDS" have two wage earners.

But yet America's top 1% pay American workers so little, indulge in expensive foreign made goods, outsource the better paying American jobs overseas, and pay millions of dollars to GOP politicians in lobbying and political contributions to kill Medicare and Social Security for everyone else who's NOT a multi-millionaire or billionaire.

Not to mention, America's top 1% are HUGE tax evaders. (See my posts on this subject).

Massachusetts Democratic Senator John Kerry keeps his $7 million dinghy (the Isabel) in neighboring Rhode Island, allowing him to avoid paying roughly $500,000 in state taxes. It was built in New Zealand by Friendship Yachts.

As an aside: Republican Congressman Darrell Issa wondered why the port of Los Angeles owns a 73-foot million-dollar yacht called the Angelena, and why they’re using taxpayer money from the "stimulus package" to refurbish it.

Another aside: Why are yacht owners always venturing in to pirate seas? "Few people who travel the high seas these days are unaware of the dangers from pirates." Are the Republicans asking for off-setting cuts elsewhere in the government budget whenever we have to send in our Navy?

And The Rich always had the Better Tax Deal

America's ultra-wealthy individuals, the tops 1%, and our American "captains of industry", also have a much better tax deal deal than everyone else, those who us who aren't a multi-millionaire or billionaire.

Capital gains and dividends (from "investment income") should be taxed at the regular marginal income tax rate (the top rate being 39.6%, not 20% like the billionaires will now have to pay (it was 15% since 2003).

The $112,000 cap on Social Security taxes should be eliminated, almost everyone else pays this tax on 100% of their earnings, billionaires don't.

All “investment income” (capital gains made from real estate, stocks, dividends, carried interest and fine art etc.) should be taxed for Social Security and Medicare...which is currently exempted. (although I think ObamaCare might start imposing a tax on this income)

Loopholes should be eliminated and deductions capped (like Mitt Romney’s show horse as a medical expense) and better over-sight of government spending is needed...as well as hiring more IRS auditors to find wealthy tax evaders.

Bankers, CEOs and hedge fund managers will pay a 20% capital gains tax (before deductions) on their stocks, but working Americans who have their pensions, IRAs and 401k plans invested in stocks are taxed at the regular marginal tax rate.

TAX REFORM NOW on the top 1%, those who could care less about the rest of the citizens in their county.

1 comment:

  1. The richest Americans got off easy again. They had their taxes go up from a measly 15% to only 20%. Most of the richest Americans got the best tax deal (don’t they always?)

    Those who earn salaries and wages up to the highest marginal tax rates are taxed the most, but the richest of the rich make most of their income from capital gains, not wages. They aren't taxed at the top marginal rate of 39.6%.

    Capital gains taxes (first started in 1921) has always been a preferential tax break for the richest Americans.

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