Nestle CEO Plans to Privatize the Air You Breathe

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/10/1178026/-STUNNING-Nestle-CEO-Plans-to-Privatize-the-Air-You-Breathe

Peter Brabeck, CEO of the world's largest foodstuff company, Nestle, has begun plans to privatize the air we breathe within municipal borders across the globe.

Nestle's idea is this: make air a potable commodity sold on the open market, with Nestle contracting with municipal leaders (from New York to New Zealand) to become the principal supplier of the air we breathe.  Meaning: if New Yorkers want to breathe the air around them within the city's limits, they must pay in order to do so.

This breaking news comes on the heels of Brabeck's announcement that he considers fresh water to be a commodity that should be wholly privatized rather than a human necessity to which global citizens have a right to unfettered access:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTqvBhFVdvE&feature=player_embedded

According to Brabeck, access to water is not a human right, and those who purport such claims are extremists.

Now, Nestle's CEO is categorizing the air we breathe as a commodity as well. "Those on the left backed by NGOs will say that access to air is a human right," Braback said when reached for comment. "However, oxygen is just like anything else. It's a commodity. People want it. And a market value should ascribed to it."

When asked whether making air a commodity could potentially leave millions (or billions) of poor global citizens out in the cold, Braback rejected such thoughts as fear-mongering. "Once we know what air is worth, we'll know how large the subsidies need to be to keep poor people breathing."

When asked to comment, poor people across the globe refused to waste their last free breaths on an answer.

"Remember when those 5200 pentagon employees were busted using child porn? Of course you don't, because the investigation stopped due to lack of funds"

here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCHMyN92T7U

.@gop @speakerboehner The Republican hypocrites who voted against Sandy relief bill #p2 #tcot

source http://www.facebook.com/dailykos

Fiscal Cliff Deal Will Raise Taxes On 77 Percent Of Americans: Tax Policy Center Analysis

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/fiscal-cliff-raise-taxes_n_2395559.html?ir=

Payroll Tax Hike Erases Paycheck Gains For Minimum Wage Workers

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/payroll-tax-hike-minimum-wage-increase_n_2396681.html?ir=

AIG: 'Thank You America' For The Taxpayer-Funded Bailout! @speakerboehner @barackobama

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com////aig-thank-you-america_n_2395546.html?ir=

AIG has one message for taxpayers: "Thank You America."

The world's largest insurance company has launched a new ad campaign that thanks Americans for their taxpayer-funded bailout during the global financial crisis, including a commercial with a litany of employees saying, "Thank you, America."

The commercial also seems to ask America to thank AIG. It notes that AIG repaid its taxpayer bailout with a $22.7 billion profit and that the company has helped America recover from some of its worst disasters, including Hurricane Sandy, the tornado in Joplin, Mo., and 9/11.

AIG needed a bailout in 2008 after it loaded up on credit default swaps on toxic mortgage-backed securities, leading to a credit-rating downgrade and a cash crunch.

"Thank you, America, for the freedom to ensure a brighter future," an AIG employee says in the commercial.

"Helping people recover and rebuild. That's what we do," an employee wearing an AIG hard hat says atop the new World Trade Center, where AIG is the lead insurer.

AIG declined to comment on the new campaign or how much money the company is spending on it. The insurer referred The Huffington Post to its press release.

TV commercials from AIG will air during NFL playoff games, morning shows, and primetime TV, and online ads from AIG will take over the homepages of The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, according to the company's release.

The AIG bailout ended in December, when the Treasury Department sold its last stake in AIG. The government touted its profit from the bailout, but ex-TARP watchdog Neil Barofsky has argued that the AIG bailout set a terrible precedent for the future by refusing to punish the risky behavior that helped lead to the financial crisis.

AIG has been in the news for awkward reasons lately. AIG sued the government in July, demanding tax money back from 1991. AIG executive Robert Gifford also rapped in 2010 about the pitfalls of getting bailed out, according to a video uncovered by Mother Jones in December: "I was hanging out all comfy, at my crib in bed. Now I have endless meetings with ... the Fed."

rest at http://www.huffingtonpost.com////aig-thank-you-america_n_2395546.html?ir=

Eight Corporate Subsidies in the Fiscal Cliff Bill, From Goldman Sachs to Disney to NASCAR

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-stoller/eight-corporate-subsidies_b_2396559.html?ir=

Payroll Tax Hike Erases Paycheck Gains For Minimum Wage Workers

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/payroll-tax-hike-minimum-wage-increase_n_2396681.html

"WASHINGTON -- Many of the nation's poorest workers were looking forward to a modest pay hike on New Year's Day, when 10 states implemented higher minimum wages.

In the end, those workers' increased earnings may have lasted all of a few hours.

The deal approved by the House of Representatives late Tuesday to avert the so-called "fiscal cliff" did not include an extension of the payroll tax holiday, effectively hiking by 2 percent workers' payroll tax contributions which help pay for Social Security. For many minimum wage workers who are receiving a wage increase this year, the higher payroll tax will offset much or all of the potential gains they anticipated in the new year.

According to the Wall Street Journal's payroll tax calculator, a worker who makes $15,000 a year -- roughly the salary of a full-time, minimum-wage worker in most states -- will pay an additional $300 in payroll taxes this year under the deal struck by Congress and the White House.

That $300 is roughly equal to the additional earnings that minimum wage workers would have gained in most of the 10 states boosting their wage floors, according to an analysis of the increases by the National Employment Law Project (NELP), an advocacy group for low-wage workers.

In Arizona, for instance, the 15-cent wage hike to $7.80 translated into an annual raise of $320 for a worker maintaining a 40-hour week. In Colorado, the 14-cent raise to $7.78 meant an additional $310."

vile and tasteless: Cinemark Offers Tickets To Reopening Night For Aurora Victims' Families, Prompts Angry Response

what the fuck were they thinking? this is so insanely tasteless....

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/cinemark-victims-families-opening-night-aurora-theater-reopens_n_2397733.html?ir=denver&utm_campaign=010213&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-denver&utm_content=Title

'Family members of those who were killed in the Aurora movie theater shooting sent an angry letter to Cinemark after being invited to "a special evening of remembrance" and a movie in the theater where their loved ones were massacred.

Relatives of eight of the victims signed the letter, saying they were especially angry that the invitations to the theater's reopening night were received so soon after the holidays.

During the holiday we didn't think anyone or anything could make our grief worse but you, Cinemark, have managed to do just that by sending us an invitation two days after Christmas inviting us to attend the re-opening of your theater in Aurora where our loved ones were massacred.Thanks for making what is a very difficult holiday season that much more difficult. Timing is everything and yours is awful...

You (Cinemark) refused our repeated invitations to speak parent to parent with no lawyers involved. Instead, we get invited to attend a "special evening of remembrance" at the very theater where our loved ones lay dead on the floor for over 15 hours. We would give anything to wipe the carnage of that night out of our minds' eye. Thank you for reminding us how your quest for profits has blinded your leadership and made you so callous as to be oblivious to our mental anguish.

The letter, which called the theater chain's offer "disgusting" also says that that Cinemark never reached out to family members to offer their condolences and that "telling us to be sure 'to reserve our tickets' is wholly offensive to the memory of our loved ones" (Click over to The Denver Post to read the full letter)."

Sandy Aid: John Boehner Promises Votes As Soon As Friday

embarrasing that he was caught not wanting to hold a vote.

from huffpo:

"WASHINGTON -- It was just Wednesday morning that lawmakers were lining up on the House floor to slam House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) for delaying a vote on a relief package for Hurricane Sandy victims until the next Congress, with some Republicans even vowing to vote against Boehner for House speaker over the matter.

But by Wednesday afternoon, many of those same lawmakers were all smiles after leaving a meeting with Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who promised them votes as soon as Friday on a relief package.

The House is now planning to hold two votes to get a Sandy relief package out the door: the first one, on Friday morning, will be for $9 billion for flood insurance. The second will be on Jan. 15, the first full day of business in the next Congress, and will include $51 billion to help rebuild the regions of New Jersey, New York and Connecticut that were decimated by the hurricane in October. Together, the bills equal the current $60 billion bill pending in the House.

Two New York Republicans who districts were hit by the storm, Reps. Michael Grimm and Peter King, spent much of Tuesday night and Wednesday morning railing against Boehner for indicating he planned to punt a vote on the bill into the next Congress. Both were so mad they vowed to oppose Boehner for House speaker when they cast their votes in Thursday's leadership elections.

That was no longer the case by Wednesday afternoon."

Yellowstone River Oil Spill: Delayed Response From Exxon Made Matters Worse, Feds Say

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/yellowstone-river-oil-spill-response_n_2397209.html?ir=green&utm_campaign=010213&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-green&utm_content=Title

These guys get away with murder and we just let it happen.......

"BILLINGS, Mont. — Delays in Exxon Mobil Corp.'s response to a major pipeline break beneath Montana's Yellowstone River made an oil spill far worse than it otherwise would have been, federal regulators said in a new report.

The July 2011 rupture fouled 70 miles of riverbank along the scenic Yellowstone, killing fish and wildlife and prompting a massive, months-long cleanup.

The damage could have been significantly reduced if pipeline controllers had acted more quickly, according to Department of Transportation investigators.

The report, provided to The Associated Press by the office of Montana U.S. Sen. Max Baucus, marks the first time federal regulators have highlighted specific actions by Exxon as contributing to the severity of the spill.

An Exxon spokeswoman said Wednesday the company was reviewing the findings.

The spill released about 63,000 gallons of crude from Exxon's 20-year-old Silvertip pipeline into the river near the city of Laurel. That damage would have been reduced by about two-thirds if controllers in Houston isolated the rupture as soon as problems emerged, investigators said.

Instead, after Exxon personnel partially shut down the line and were weighing their next steps, crude drained from the severed, 12-inch pipeline for another 46 minutes before a key control valve was finally closed.

Exxon spent $135 million on its response to the spill, including cleanup and repair work."

Eight Corporate Subsidies in the Fiscal Cliff Bill, From Goldman Sachs to Disney to NASCAR

source http://truth-out.org/news/item/13648-eight-corporate-subsidies-in-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-from-goldman-sachs-to-disney-to-nascar

Throughout the months of November and December, a steady stream of corporate CEOs flowed in and out of the White House to discuss the impending fiscal cliff. Many of them, such as Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, would then publicly come out and talk about how modest increases of tax rates on the wealthy were reasonable in order to deal with the deficit problem. What wasn't mentioned is what these leaders wanted, which is what's known as "tax extenders", or roughly $205B of tax breaks for corporations. With such a banal name, and boring and difficult to read line items in the bill, few political operatives have bothered to pay attention to this part of the bill. But it is critical to understanding what is going on.

The negotiations over the fiscal cliff involve more than the Democrats, Republicans, the middle class and the wealthy. The corporate sector is here in force as well. One of the core shifts in the Reagan era was the convergence of wealthy individuals who wanted to pay less in taxes – many from the growing South – with corporations that wanted tax breaks. Previously, these groups fought over the pie, because the idea of endless deficits did not make sense. Once Reagan figured out how to finance yawning deficits, the GOP was able to wield the corporate sector and the new sun state wealthy into one force, epitomized today by Grover Norquist. What Obama is (sort of) trying to do is split this coalition, and the extenders are the carrot he's dangling in front of the corporate sector to do it.

Most tax credits drop straight to the bottom line – it's why companies like Enron considered its tax compliance section a "profit center". A few hundred billion dollars of tax expenditures is a major carrot to offer. Surely, a modest hike in income taxes for people who make more than $400k in income and stupid enough not to take that money in capital gain would be worth trading off for the few hundred billion dollars in corporate pork. This is what the fiscal cliff is about – who gets the money. And by leaving out the corporate sector, nearly anyone who talks about this debate is leaving out a key negotiating partner.

So without further ado, here are eight corporate subsidies in the fiscal cliff bill that you haven't heard of.

1) Help out NASCAR - Sec 312 extends the "seven year recovery period for motorsports entertainment complex property", which is to say it allows anyone who builds a racetrack and associated facilities to get tax breaks on it. This one was projected to cost $43 million over two years.

2) A hundred million or so for Railroads - Sec. 306 provides tax credits to certain railroads for maintaining their tracks. It's unclear why private businesses should be compensated for their costs of doing business. This is worth roughly $165 million a year.

3) Disney's Gotta Eat - Sec. 317 is "Extension of special expensing rules for certain film and television productions". It's a relatively straightforward subsidy to Hollywood studios, and according to the Joint Tax Committee, was projected to cost $150m for 2010 and 2011.

4) Help a brother mining company out – Sec. 307 and Sec. 316 offer tax incentives for miners to buy safety equipment and train their employees on mine safety. Taxpayers shouldn't have to bribe mining companies to not kill their workers.

5) Subsidies for Goldman Sachs Headquarters – Sec. 328 extends "tax exempt financing for  York Liberty Zone," which was a program to provide post-9/11 recovery funds. Rather than going to small businesses affected, however, this was, according to Bloomberg, "little more than a subsidy for fancy Manhattan apartments and office towers for Goldman Sachs and Bank of America Corp." Michael Bloomberg himself actually thought the program was excessive, so that's saying something. According to David Cay Johnston's The Fine Print, Goldman got $1.6 billion in tax free financing for its new massive headquarters through Liberty Bonds.

6) $9B Off-shore financing loophole for banks – Sec. 322 is an "Extension of the Active Financing Exception to Subpart F." Very few tax loopholes have a trade association, but this one does. This strangely worded provision basically allows American corporations such as banks and manufactures to engage in certain lending practices and not pay taxes on income earned from it. According to this Washington Post piece, supporters of the bill include GE, Caterpillar, and JP Morgan. Steve Elmendorf, super-lobbyist, has been paid $80,000 in 2012 alone to lobby on the "Active Financing Working Group." 

7) Tax credits for foreign subsidiaries –  Sec. 323 is an extension of the "Look-through treatment of payments between related CFCs under foreign personal holding company income rules." This gibberish sounding provision cost $1.5 billion from 2010 and 2011, and the US Chamber loves it. It's a provision that allows US multinationals to not pay taxes on income earned by companies they own abroad.

8) Bonus Depreciation, R&D Tax Credit – These are well-known corporate boondoggles. The tax credit was projected to cost $8B for 2010 and 2011, and the depreciation provisions were projected to cost about $110B for those two years, with some of that made up in later years.

Conveniently, the Joint Committee on Taxation in 2010 did an analysis of what many of these extenders cost. You can find that report here.

rest at http://truth-out.org/news/item/13648-eight-corporate-subsidies-in-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-from-goldman-sachs-to-disney-to-nascar

.@GOP @SPEAKERBOEHNER 32 senators voted NO on Sandy disaster relief fund. All were republicans #p2 #tcot

source http://www.facebook.com/NoTeaParty

wtf?! New Fiscal Cliff Deal Includes A Ton Of Tax Breaks For New NASCAR Tracks @barackobama @speakerboehner #p2 #tcot

source http://withleather.uproxx.com/2013/01/that-new-fiscal-cliff-deal-includes-nascar-tracks?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+uproxx%2Fwithleather+%28With+Leather%29

Politicians are the worst people on this planet, so it shouldn't have surprised people this morning when news leaked of the sordid inclusions in the fiscal cliff deal, from a heavier rum tax on Puerto Rico to financing Goldman Sachs' new headquarters. Good, those guys needed a break. But also included is the so-called "NASCAR loophole", which has a lot of people really pissed off right now.

However, it's not like the government is just giving a ton of our hard-earned cash to the good ol' boys who spend their days turning left. It's much sneakier and more complex than that. Basically, it's a nice, big tax break for the billionaires behind the International Speedway Corporation, and most notably the France family. So what, then, does this loophole give them?

The so-called NASCAR loophole allows anyone who builds a racetrack to receive a small tax benefit through accelerated depreciation. This tax break cost roughly $43 million the past two years and will get extended for another year. Sounds tawdry, right? And yet, supporters claim the break is necessary so that NASCAR can compete on a level playing field with other theme parks. Looks like they got their wish. (Via Washington Post)

Now I'm no fancy, big city slicker lawyer type with a degree in smartness, but I've read enough USA Today pie charts in my day to know that this isn't much of a surprise. Look, millionaires and billionaires get all the breaks. We've just got to learn to live with that. I mean, take Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria, for example. He fleeced an entire major city government into funding his ridiculous, giant new stadium, and he did it all on the paper wings of a promise that he was committed to building a contender. Classic rich dude crapping on our dreams scenario.

Instead of Loria, though, it's just NASCAR and International Speedway executives who get to act out the "We need these tax breaks to build new tracks and fix the old ones so we can create jobs because America!" routine. But this is all unfair speculation and the biased ramblings of a lower class American just trying to get his next meal. Let's see what the NASCAR fatcats have to say in response…

Hurricane Sandy Bill: New York Lawmakers Angered After House GOP Doesn't Hold Vote

source http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/02/hurricane-sandy-bill_n_2395536.html

WASHINGTON — New York-area lawmakers in both parties erupted in anger after learning the House Republican leadership decided to allow the current term of Congress to end without holding a vote on aid for victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said late Tuesday he was told by the office of Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia that Speaker John Boehner of Ohio had decided to abandon a vote this session.

Cantor, who sets the House schedule, did not immediately comment. House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer of Maryland told reporters that just before Tuesday evening's vote on "fiscal cliff" legislation, Cantor told him that he was "99.9 percent confident that this bill would be on the floor, and that's what he wanted."

A spokesman for Boehner, Michael Steel, said, "The speaker is committed to getting this bill passed this month."

In remarks on the House floor, King called the decision "absolutely inexcusable, absolutely indefensible. We cannot just walk away from our responsibilities."

The Senate approved a $60.4 billion measure Friday to help with recovery from the October storm that devastated parts of New York, New Jersey and nearby states. The House Appropriations Committee has drafted a smaller, $27 billion measure, and a vote had been expected before Congress' term ends Thursday at noon.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent so far on relief efforts for 11 states and the District of Columbia struck by the storm, one of the worst ever to hit the Northeast. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster relief fund still has about $4.3 billion, enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring, according to officials. The unspent FEMA money can only be used for emergency services, said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are receiving federal aid.

Sandy was blamed for at least 120 deaths and battered coastline areas from North Carolina to Maine. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were the hardest hit states and suffered high winds, flooding and storm surges. The storm damaged or destroyed more than 72,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey. In New York, 305,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed and more than 265,000 businesses were affected.

"This is an absolute disgrace and the speaker should hang his head in shame," said Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y.

"I'm here tonight saying to myself for the first time that I'm not proud of the decision my team has made," said Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. "It is the wrong decision, and I' m going to be respectful and ask that the speaker reconsider his decision. Because it's not about politics, it's about human lives."

"I truly feel betrayed this evening," said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y.

"We need to be there for all those in need now after Hurricane Sandy," said Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y.

The House Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, said she didn't know whether a decision has been made and added: "We cannot leave here doing nothing. That would be a disgrace."